John Boehner came to the House in 1991, near the end of 40 years of Democratic control.
The elbows have gotten sharper since then.
The times changed and Boehner didn’t. When he first arrived in Washington in 1990, there was still a lingering sense of bipartisanship on some issues. And the personality of the House was different. Hardened ideologues were few and far between. If not friendliness, there was comity in the House and pragmatism ruled the day.
Boehner tried to be pragmatic. He tried to be reasonable. But these are alien concepts to many right wingers who saw insufficient fire in Boehner’s gut to go after Obama and a suspicious lack of animus directed toward Democrats. Add to the mix the fact that Boehner could never decide how hard to come down on the right-wing revolutionaries who bedeviled his speakership. He ended up earning neither their fear nor respect.
1 comment:
Where we are today is not an improvement over "the way it was" when John Boehner first joined the U.S. House.
Eric Cantor had a good op-ed in the New York Times that explained governing in the House:
"The American people elected Republicans to the majority in the House. And Mr. Obama’s liberal platform ground to a halt. Spending actually went down. Republicans, led by Speaker Boehner, provided the check and balance voters had demanded.
"But somewhere along the road, a number of voices on the right began demanding that the Republican Congress not only block Mr. Obama’s agenda but enact a reversal of his policies. They took to the airwaves and the Internet and pronounced that congressional Republicans could undo the president’s agenda — with him still in office, mind you — and enact into law a conservative vision for government, without compromise."
Very well said. One thing I learned from Chris Saxman during his years as my delegate was that to govern we must be willing to compromise. That expectation is sadly lacking in today's my-way-or-the-highway reps.
Post a Comment