Boehner's actions show leadership

When political historians get around to writing biographies of House Speaker John Boehner, last week is going to merit more than a little mention.
That’s because last week, the speaker finally seemed to be his own man.
He wasn’t playing chess games with President Obama. And he wasn’t having the leadership of his party hijacked by outside interests.
He was just doing what the Speaker of the House is supposed to do. He was trying to get some legislation through Congress that’s in the country’s best interest.
No one would argue the bipartisan budget compromise cobbled together this month is perfect. Republican Rep. Paul Ryan wouldn’t say that; Democratic Sen. Patty Murray wouldn’t say that. Yet Ryan and Murray are the architects of the deal.
And Speaker Boehner’s accomplishment was to shepherd the deal through the House.
In doing so, he let loose a fusillade aimed at groups that have found it politically useful and extremely profitable to drag the Republican Party farther and farther to the right.
Lobbying outfits like Heritage Action and the Club for Growth make buckets of money by preaching a no-compromise message. So do dozens of formal and informal Tea Party groups.
Those organizations have three things in common:
•They don’t have to govern.
•They don’t have to stand for election.
•And they’re constantly asking for donations from the most disaffected members of American society.
As a result, they have absolutely no interest in finding common ground, building consensus or moving the country forward.
That agenda, as John Boehner would assure you, is difficult and often daunting.
But governing requires leadership, governing requires finding common ground and governing requires finding consensus, even when that means no one really gets everything they’d like to get.
Our guess is that — in the short term — Speaker Boehner’s actions last week will spur a new round of fund-raising by those who oppose him.
But our hope is that — in the longer term — last week will mark a point where sensible, thoughtful conservatism began to reassert control over the Republican Party. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]