|
nChrist
|
 |
« on: October 04, 2015, 06:29:22 PM » |
|
________________________________________
The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 9-30-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________
Boehner Says G'bye — Now What
The Poster Child for Failed GOP Leadership
By Mark Alexander
Sep. 30, 2015
“A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired.” —Alexander Hamilton (1775)
House Speaker John Boehner announced his upcoming resignation — after having served five years as one of the most ineffective speakers in history.
Boehner was elected to the House in 1990 from Ohio’s 8th congressional district, a GOP stronghold that includes suburban and rural areas between Cincinnati and Dayton. I first met him in 1993 when he was campaigning for other GOP candidates, and found him devoutly faithful and a very astute, articulate conservative.
How did Boehner devolve from a successful grassroots conservative into a futile GOP establishment hack?
There are several reasons, including a primary contributing factor to his demise that has been a “secret” in plain sight for years.
But to better understand his failure, here is a brief look at Boehner’s rise through the Republican ranks.
In 1993, he became a key promoter of the Contract with America1, authored by then-House Republican Conference Chairman Dick Armey (R-TX) and then-House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-GA). The CWA was based on Ronald Reagan’s2 legacy platform. George H.W. Bush had wasted that hard-won legacy during his one term as president before losing the White House to a younger and more charismatic candidate, Bill Clinton3 and his “co-president,” Hillary4.
The Contract with America was key to the GOP’s historic midterm election victory in 1994, restoring GOP leadership in the House and Senate for the first time since 1952 — and Boehner was one of its most effective advocates.
While the GOP-controlled House kept many of the Contract’s promises, advancing the Republican agenda was difficult with Clinton in the White House. Unfortunately, in 1996 the GOP establishment ran another aging candidate, Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), against Clinton and, like Bush, he lost.
From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference chairman under Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay. But after House losses in 2000, Boehner lost his post. (Recall that was the year George W. Bush lost the popular vote but won the electoral vote with a razor-thin victory in Florida that was ultimately decided by a 5-4 Supreme Court decision.)
Boehner would not return to power until February of 2006, when he was elected House majority leader, but that stint was short-lived.
Republicans lost the House and Senate in November of 2006, and when the 110th Congress was seated in 2007, Boehner was demoted to minority leader. George W. Bush’s second term was disastrous for Republicans.
In 2008, the GOP again ran yet another aging establishment type, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), against a younger and more charismatic junior senator from Illinois, Barack Hussein Obama5 and, like Bush(41) in ‘92 and Dole in '96, McCain lost.
But the election of Obama, an ideological socialist, gave rise to a historic reaction — that of the grassroots Tea Party movement6, which culminated in the extraordinary 2010 midterm GOP victory7 and the largest shift of power in the House of Representatives in more than 70 years.
Not only did the GOP retake the House, they did so with almost 80 conservative Republicans.
One of the galvanizing factors unifying those conservatives was Boehner’s replay of Gingrich’s Contract with America, the 2010 “Pledge to America8.” It read like a punch list of the things establishment Republicans failed to do when they controlled the House, Senate and White House from 2003 to 2007. But it was the grassroots-drafted “Contract from America9” that better reflected the conservative resurgence.
Not only was Obama a catalyst for the seismic shift to the right, but there also was a groundswell of disgust over the harsh reality that Bush failed to secure virtually any conservative domestic policy victories though he had four years with Republican House and Senate majorities. Thus, in 2006, the GOP lost both the House and Senate, giving Democrats control of both chambers for the first time in 12 years.
At the time, Boehner observed, “Our team failed to live up to our own principles.” That was an epic understatement.
For the record, the last Republican president to have the benefit of Republican-controlled House and Senate chambers was Dwight D. Eisenhower, and only from 1953-55. Prior to Ike, it had been Herbert Hoover, who took office in 1929, eight months before the Wall Street Crash and the onset of the Great Depression.
So, after the 2010 midterm Republican victory in the House, what happened to Boehner?
There are several factors — and the GOP had best take note.
First and foremost, the grassroots groundswell of 2010 bypassed Boehner — it was in reaction to the election of Obama, and Boehner was merely along for the ride. He was totally out of touch with the Republican base that handed him the speakership.
Second, when announcing his departure, Boehner said, “The first job of any speaker is to protect this institution.” No, it is to honor the oath “to Support and Defend10” our Constitution and lead accordingly.
By 2010, grassroots Patriots across the nation had renewed their commitment to our Constitution and the Rule of Law11 it enshrines. Boehner missed that cue.
Third, in 2012, Republicans lost the presidency and suffered lackluster legislative branch performance when the national focal point was, again, a moderate Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney12, who failed to energize a grassroots ground campaign — as with Bush (41), Dole and McCain. Thus, Obama duped voters into electing him for a second term13.
(Memo to the GOP: Running establishment Republicans against young, charismatic Democrats is a losing proposition. Of course, we grassroots conservatives were screaming that from the mountaintops in 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012, but the GOP machinery drowned out our voices. Can you discern the pattern14 here? The last time the GOP fielded a real conservative for president, Ronald Reagan won 49 states and 525 electoral votes!)
However, in 2012 Obama’s re-election fueled a continued resurgence of grassroots conservatives and, in the 2014 midterm election, conservative Republicans again decimated Democrats15 in not only House and Senate races but notably in gubernatorial and statehouse elections across the nation. This was a deep win for Republicans and particularly conservatives.
Not only did Republicans win back the Senate after eight years in exile, the newly sworn House began 2015 with the largest Republican majority since the 71st Congress in 1929. But this victory was grassroots, and again, as was the case in 2010, Boehner was just along for the ride and dissociated from the Republican base.
So what have the House and Senate accomplished since 2014?
On the prospect of the 2014 gains, Charles Krauthammer noted16, “Regaining the Senate would finally give the GOP the opportunity, going into 2016, to demonstrate its capacity to govern. … Winning control of the Senate would allow Republicans to pass a whole range of measures now being held up by [Harry] Reid, often at the behest of the White House. Make it a major reform agenda. The centerpiece might be tax reform, both corporate and individual. It is needed, popular and doable. Then go for the low-hanging fruit enjoying wide bipartisan support, such as the Keystone XL pipeline and natural gas exports, most especially to Eastern Europe. One could then add border security, energy deregulation and health care reform that repeals the more onerous Obamacare mandates. … Controlling both houses would allow the GOP to produce a compelling legislative agenda. … If the president signs any of it, good. If he vetoes, it will be clarifying. Who then will be the party of no? The vetoed legislation would become the framework for a 2016 GOP platform.”
Krauthammer added, “Memo to the GOP: Win the Senate, then enact an agenda and dare the president to veto it. Show the country what you stand for. Then take it to the nation in 2016.” |
