There has been a lot of recent speculation that John Boehner might give up the Speaker’s gavel, grab a lobbying job and an Augusta National Golf Club membership, and retire from Congress. There has also been some speculation about what that might mean for the country and the world and the future of the cosmos.
Without getting too deep about it, I think things will only get worse for the country if Boehner leaves, but it might help the GOP avoid some unforced errors. Let’s face it. Even in good times, the conservative movement is not built to run the federal government and oversee its many agencies and departments. It is not built solve problems or find efficiencies. It is mainly built to sell books and electronic advertising based on the idea that the federal government is bad and needs to be dismantled. Once Boehner leaves, it is a near certainty that a true movement conservative will replace him as the Republican leader in the House of Representatives.
That’s not good if you care about the performance and public popularity of the federal government, but if his replacement can stay sober past mid-afternoon and show some actual backbone once in a while, they might avoid being humiliated by their own caucus on a regular basis.
Also, this.
Speaking of which, what do you make of this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/proudly-patriotic-but-skeptical-on-syria-attack.html?hp&_r=
0&pagewanted=all
There are plenty of reasons to oppose Obama on Syria, but this is nuts.
Could Everett Dirksen himself herd this group of lunatics in the GOP?
“…they might avoid being humiliated by their own caucus on a regular basis. “
Hope springs eternal, Booman? Who’ve the R’s got that is going to be better?
Exactly. The current crop of elected R leadership is so bad as to qualify for the term execrable. Boehner is not alone. The Gavel depends upon the ranking members of the committees. They are, for the most part, clueless panderers. They represent super solid districts where their only opposition comes from the right … so they keep going to the right.
House Leadership is worse. Cantor, McCarthy, King, Sessions, Hensarling … and on and on. None of these guys could organize a beer brawl between marines and sailors at 1AM in a Charleston dockside bar.
Boehner is the best they got with any seniority.
… they might avoid being humiliated by their own caucus on a regular basis.
Only on specific things. I’d be hard pressed to think Cantor would bring a vote to the floor that he doesn’t have the votes for. Then again, how well does the rank-and-file like Cantor? According to the TradMed, we just know that the GOP caucus likes Cantor better. That doesn’t mean they’ll like him when Cantor is running the show.
If they get a true hard core teabegger in that role, they might as well just go home. They won’t be able to rename a post office in a civilized fashion. Absolutely nothing would ever move forward, even minor, uncontroversial things. Everything would be an opportunity to stick it to somebody.
OT, but interesting. Brown, Merkley and Warren are official “noes” on the Banking Committee re Larry Summers. He will need at least one Republican vote to get to the floor. Will we dodge that bullet?
I actually think so, I don’t think Summers has gotten ANY favorable press that I’ve seen and I don’t see what he would bring to the Fed position that would be helpful in terms of what the next chairman actually needs.
I don’t think that Boehner leaving changes much. There are now growing internal divisions in the GOP House caucus that Boehner’s leaving will not heal. The conservative movement that Boehner represented is fading away. Whether those splits cause trouble in 2014 is still up for grabs, but I don’t think that Boehner retiring substantially changes the ability of the House to do or not do anything.
And the next casualty of movement conservatism might be military Keynesianism. Just because movement conservatives have succeeded in gutting just about everything else.
The economic architecture of the modern Congress in which future jobs as lobbyists, expensive paid speaking engagements, and book deals outweigh public service and governance is a problem for both parties. And has contributed to bad governance on the part of both parties.
And not just in Congress, also in executive appointments. Just look at the revolving doors the the Jed Lews, Cass Sunsteins, and their compatriots have gone through.
Spencer Ackerman, Guardian: Ex-FBI lawyer linked to surveillance abuses poised for federal judge post
Another revolving door creating failed governance.