An emboldened John Boehner, after years of capitulating to the right wing of his party, suddenly has turned into The Most Interesting Man in Politics.
This is quite a change for the House speaker, who previously could have been more accurately been dubbed The Most Spineless Man in Politics; or The Most Aggrieved Person in Washington; or the Guy in Charge of the Asylum. And while the metamorphosis is far too fresh to allow for in-depth analysis, the new and improved Boehner has offered some hope for a more productive and less contentious congressional year.
Boehner, for three years now, has simultaneously been in one of the most enviable and one of the least enviable positions in Washington. The Ohio Republican has been at the top of his party’s leadership, but it has been a party in which Tea Party conservatives have wielded an inordinate amount of power. Yet when leaders of the House and Senate reached a budget agreement shortly before Christmas, Boehner seemed to be transformed. His intestinal fortitude, which long had been two sizes too small, grew three sizes as he took on conservative king-making groups such as Heritage Action for America and the Club for Growth.
“They are not fighting for conservative principles,” Boehner told a meeting of Republicans, according to the New York Times. “They are not fighting for conservative policy. The are fighting to expand their lists, raise more money, and grow their organizations, and they are using you to do it. It’s ridiculous.”