An ode to John Boehner (from 2013)

From Noam Scheiber in the New Republic, March 5, 2013 (on the occasion of yet another budget “negotiation”):

I have a confession to 
make: I’m a big fan of John Boehner. One of his very few, it turns out. The White House complains that Boehner’s near-total ignorance of policy makes him impossible to negotiate with, and that it’s pointless to deal with him anyway, since he exerts zero control over his members. Pundits deride him as strategically inept, constantly backing himself into corners from which there’s no obvious escape. Even conservatives have lost their patience at times: Washington Examiner columnist Byron York recently called Boehner’s message on sequestration—the $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that kicked in Friday—”astonishingly bad.”

To which I say: Yes! Boehner is goofy, poorly informed, and frequently incoherent. He often sows confusion among the very people he’s supposed to be leading. But despite this—or perhaps because of it—he has been remarkably effective at saving the Republican Party from complete self-destruction. Through heroic improvisation, he’s avoided the global economic apocalypse House Republicans are so intent on provoking.

Under the circumstances, Boehner has, in fact, been a raging success. I hesitate to call him “sophisticated” because that would imply a level of self-awareness and reflection I’m not sure he’s capable of. But the man’s instincts are damn-near impeccable.