Meet Your New Speaker Of The House, John Boehner
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As the House of Representatives changes hands Tuesday, Boehner stands ready to take his dream position: Speaker of the House.
The native Ohioan, best known for his permanent tan and fiendish cigarette habit, is a textbook example of paying dues on the way to power. He's got a blue-collar ethic but is not a Tea Partier. He's known as a prodigious fundraiser and caucus-builder, with the political aptitude to seize big opportunities (as he did in snagging the disgraced Tom DeLay's House Majority Leader spot in 2006).
CBS News describes the current House Minority Leader this way: "Boehner's not known as a particularly dynamic orator or a deep thinker. But he's considered a sound manager and credited with instilling extraordinary discipline in House Republicans. He's so far managed to corral the GOP's restive young guns, the old guard and those in between, earning their loyalty in part by bringing in huge sums for GOP candidates."
The Hill reports that Boehner's efforts are about to land him the ultimate prize: "'I do believe that John Boehner will be the highest elected Republican official in the land and will be the spokesman of the Republican Party,' said Brian Darling, director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation. 'He will be the most important Republican elected official in Washington, D.C.'"
House Republicans won't vote for their Speaker until January, but Boehner has already been greasing the wheels, donating $3 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee in October:
"The transfers show that Boehner, who has always been an effective fundraiser, has been particularly successful this year in marshaling resources to pave his way to the Speaker's gavel."
Boehner is also notoriously close to his corporate donors, making critics queasy. The New York Times reported:
"He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS. They have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes and are now leading fund-raising efforts for his Boehner for Speaker campaign, which is soliciting checks of up to $37,800 each, the maximum allowed."
President Obama (joined by current Speaker Nancy Pelosi) has tried to make Boehner public enemy number one in recent months. In September, "Obama charged that the 'man who thinks he’s going to be speaker,’ favored tax loopholes for 'shipping jobs and profits overseas.'"
In a different speech the same month, "Obama assailed Boehner by name eight times, charging 'there were no new policies from Mr. Boehner.’"
The trouble for Obama is that most people don't know who John Boehner is, not that it matters to Boehner. He's puffing his way to the Speaker's chair.
