The Speaker Sept 26^th

Today I’ll write about Speaker John Boehner who announced, just yesterday, that he was resigning his Speakership and resigning from Congress.  The Speaker is Catholic and serious about it; he is responsible for Pope Francis receiving an invitation to address a joint session of Congress and the Pope’s presence affected him deeply. This was obvious to anyone who watched his tearful face during the Pope’s message. (Lest we be overcome with sympathy for Boehner, remember that he also invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress on a much more hot button political topic!)

The Speaker of the House is third in line for the Presidency of the United States. While Boehner was unpopular in some quarters of his party and he would have faced a challenge for his position, it is agreed that his Speakership was safe. So why resign now? He claims he was planning to resign very soon anyway, which may be true, and this seemed to be a good time to do it. He’s right; it is. The Republican controlled House can accomplish nothing without the votes of Democrats, an enormously galling situation for his party.

There are just over 40 Republican Tea Party people who appear to want nothing done and will tolerate no legislative compromise whatever. They are largely responsible for Congresses reputation for ineffectiveness. They and some other like-minded Republicans have been responsible for about 50 Bills to overturn the Affordable Care Act, none of which stood any chance of passing and all of which spent the public’s money and Congressional time without effect.

It seems that Boehner has abdicated the responsibility to lead a House with 247 Republicans of which 45 are Tea Party people who actively want to get rid of him and 188 members of the opposing party who don’t admire him very much either. Who can blame Boehner for wanting to go and play golf; who would be willing to take his place?