Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
I know it's unfair, but let's be honest: we're all thinking it. We're all comparing newly-installed Speaker of the House John Boehner to the last Republican takeover Speaker, Newt Gingrich.
And let's be even honest-er: we're all a little worried that this speaker may display some of the same, um, high self-esteem, and worse, may get painted with the same crazy brush.
So this news is deeply reassuring. From the indispensable Daily Caller:
Speaker John Boehner’s decision to skip the White House state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao, following his declining to join President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One last week, has again raised the question of whether the two political leaders are having trouble getting along.
It's not a snub. It's keeping his distance. Which is a smart move. There's no upside in joint appearance or photo-ops. As Gingrich discovered, when the president brings you along for the ride, it's often designed to make a point about how insignificant you are.
Boehner seems like a canny dude. Don't get sucked into DC pageantry. Instead, stay relentlessly on message:
“While they may disagree on policy, the speaker has a very cordial relationship with the president and he looks forward to discussing how best to start creating jobs and cutting spending as we move forward this year,” said Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith.
Don't engage. Keep your distance. Make him come to you. These are smart opening moves. It makes me think we might actually win this chess game.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
I think you're right, Mr. Long. In 1995 a lot of Republicans wanted to raise Mr. Newt to world-historic status. (To be honest, after so many years in the wilderness that's what it felt like to me.)The press and the Democrats obliged and the result was poor. I would be happy not to see the Speaker on teevee more than once a month, and for his name-recognition to stay in the low 30s.
Nov '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
The two men clearly have different styles. Boehner also benefits from hindsight. After the Reagan/Bush years, I think the Right underestimated the appeal of the socialist message coming from the Left. A lot of us felt that the Clinton election was an aberation and that the right would soon return to running the show. I think the Right is much more nervous now. I for one fear that conservatism may well lose. I definitely didn't feel that way during the early Clinton years. Boehner seems much more wary of his opponent, which is a good sign.
Oct '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Back in 1995, the GOP had been out of power in the House for 40 years and both exuberance and expectations were high - unrealistically so. Now the GOP has regained control of the House after a much shorter time in the wilderness, and Boehner - who was around for both changeovers - seems intent on applying the lessons learned from the mistakes of sixteen years ago. Experience is the most brutal - but effective - of teachers.
May '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
I like your little chess metaphor there.
Dec '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Boehner isn't trying to get Obama to whine, "The Constitution makes me still relevant," as Clinton did after the 1994 elections. But he's doing something far more powerful: he's reminding Obama that the Constitution makes the Speaker of the House very relevant.
Not going to Tucson (staying instead to preside over a bipartisan prayer service) was a signal that the business of Washington doesn't stop when the President snaps his fingers. Not going to the State dinner is a signal that while the President has the Constitutional authority to make foreign policy, not all Americans are happy about this President's warm reception of the leader of an oppressive, anti-democratic and militarily worrisome regime.
Jul '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
I do not expect to see news stories about the Boehner's vacationing on the Riviera or hobnobbing in the Hamptons. I do expect to hear about House Republicans introducing bills that really intend to put people to work rather than finding new and ingenious ways to get billions of federal dollars to ACORN or its successors, leaving American families with the IOU to the Chinese.
Jul '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Hey, Mike. I was over the top with you the other day. My apologies.
Can we hug it out?
Aug '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Taking a pass on the State Dinner has the additional benefit of being the morally correct thing to do.
Jul '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
So true.
I think a significant difference between then and now is the amount of choice in media. With newspapers failing, FoxNews winning, and the rather universal access to the web the formerly "mainstream media" stories of people dying in the streets and Grandma having to choose between medicine and dog food will not be as effective.
Jul '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
The Clinton election was an aberration. George H.W. Bush's betrayal on taxes gave Ross Perot enough momentum to split the Right and hand the election to Bill Clinton.
The problem now, 20 years later, is that, contrary to conceived wisdom, the country has moved Left, largely due to immigration. Just take a look at electoral maps for presidential elections from 1968 through 2008 - Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush clobbered their opponents. Since then, every election has been a squeaker.
Oct '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Kenneth
Hey, Mike. I was over the top with you the other day. My apologies.
Can we hug it out? · Jan 19 at 4:34pm
Sure we can. I learned long ago to not take anything too personally on the internet. And besides, I must admit that I can be a bit of an agent provocateur myself. :)
Jul '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Mike LaRoche
Kenneth
Hey, Mike. I was over the top with you the other day. My apologies.
Can we hug it out? · Jan 19 at 4:34pm
Sure we can. I learned long ago to not take anything too personally on the internet. And besides, I must admit that I can be a bit of an agent provocateur myself. :) · Jan 19 at 5:08pm
High five, pal.
Jun '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Kenneth
The problem now, 20 years later, is that, contrary to conceived wisdom, the country has moved Left, largely due to immigration. Just take a look at electoral maps for presidential elections from 1968 through 2008 - Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush clobbered their opponents. Since then, every election has been a squeaker. · Jan 19 at 5:01pm
I think it has more to do with the fact that the modern Left took over the Democrat party in the '60s, and since then every candidate who ran as openly liberal got clobbered. Clinton's first win was indeed a fluke, but he won reelection by successfully positioning himself as a new kind of Democrat, a pro-growth sensible moderate. Obama won by cleverly positioning himself as all things to all people: liberals knew he was one of their own, moderates thought he was moderate, and even some conservatives fell for the act. His platform of "hope and change" was an inkblot test, you could see in it whatever you wanted "change" to stand for, and since he had no meaningful record there was nothing to pin him down.
Jul '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
"After School Ricochet"
Voiceover (solemn):
Next time.... on a very special episode of"Ricochet," Kenneth apologizes to fellow Ricocheteerianer Mike LaRoche.....
Edited on Jan 19, 2011 at 6:21pmOct '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Back to Boehner: I've been cautiously optimistic about him since reading his piece in the WSJ about what the next speaker should do, which I don't think got much play here. He seemed to setting simple, straightforward, achievable goals: no earmarks, let Americans read bills before they are brought to a vote, no more comprehensive bills, no more bills written behind closed doors. He seemed to accept that, barring exceptional circumstances, major reform would have to wait until his party controls both chambers and the White House.
And I agree with Rob's take on the crying: it just shows that Boehner is sincere and deeply patriotic. I may as well add, since we seem to be getting into a bromance hugfest on this thread, that I can tear up a bit too over politics. Of course, the manly men are welcome to take their cue from RadioDerb and decry this maudlinity.
Aug '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Wouldn't we prefer something more tactical and less operatic ? Tanned lachrymosity ain't particularly weighty and I hoped we would could rocket past Pelosi Pagliacci , who could sneer and laugh at the same time.
May '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Kenneth
Hey, Mike. I was over the top with you the other day. My apologies.
Can we hug it out? · Jan 19 at 4:34pm
Now that's the Kenneth I had my crush on.
Oct '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
To be honest, I doubt it would occur to anyone who has really been watching Boehner over time that he might shoot himself & his party in the foot the way Gingrich did. Newt started upping the pomp & circumstance quotient in the House almost as soon as he took took office, so the current Speaker has already improved on the former Speaker's trajectory.
I think Boehner and McConnell may end up being one of the most effective teams on Capitol Hill ever. Doesn't it already seem like McConnell, not Reid, is Majority Leader?
Nov '10
Re: Boehner 1, Gingrich 0
Or perhaps a choice to devote more time to assembling all the Young Dudes....
Edited on Jan 19, 2011 at 9:35pm