Salon: "It is 2011, and John Boehner is Speaker of the House..."

It is 2011, and John Boehner is Speaker of the House

John Boehner has a busy first hundred days after the Republicans take back the House in November 2010

By Salon Staff

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/08/26/2011/index.html



Aug. 26, 2009 | In his office on the second floor of the Capitol, House Speaker John Boehner leaned back in his chair and let out a satisfied sigh. "It's been a busy 100 days," he said, addressing the Salon reporter sitting across the desk from him. "I'm tired, but I'm happy." Then he turned to look out the window and surveyed the sprawling construction site where $787 billion in federal cash was transforming the National Mall into a Ronald Reagan mausoleum and theme park.

"Who would've thought, on Nov. 5, 2008, that I would be sitting here little more than two years later?" said Boehner. "I thank God, and Barack Obama, and the wisdom of the American people."

Few people, except for Charlie Cook, predicted the GOP takeover of the House in the 2010 elections. Some observers give credit for the victory to campaign media consultant Dick Morris, who won a Clio award for his groundbreaking television ad "The president is black." Most inside the Beltway, however, applauded Boehner's expert campaign generalship and aggressive messaging, which raised the question, without making any irresponsible accusations, of whether Democrats were organ thieves. The power shift was, of course, incomplete on Election Day — the GOP won only five seats, cutting the Democratic margin from 257-178 to 252-183. But once the entire 52-member Blue Dog Coalition defected to the Republicans — erstwhile Democrat Heath Shuler said the election results were a "sweeping rejection of Obama's radical agenda" — the House was firmly back in Republican hands.

One hundred and one days into the 112th Congress, the new GOP majority has already left an indelible mark on Washington — many marks, in fact, since Boehner now requires House Republicans to carry concealed weapons, and not with the safety on, either. The Speaker and his party had already achieved much of their ambitious 100-day agenda before the end of January.