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John Boehner struggles to keep up with base
House Minority Leader John Boehner spent much of last week trying to persuade a stubborn Rep. Joe Wilson to apologize to the House -- telling associates he needed to "get to" Wilson before the weekend to elicit an apology.But as the days dragged on, Boehner had to back off: Wilson's spine was stiffened by $1.5 million in campaign contributions, the Democrats' anti-Wilson rhetoric had become increasingly extreme, and the South Carolina Republican was rapidly accumulating support from the conference's dominant right wing. "At some point, he realized he had no choice but to get behind Wilson because that's where his conference was going -- and he was just so angry that the Democrats had pushed this thing so far," said a GOP aide with knowledge of the situation. Like a surfer riding the heavy waves before a hurricane, Boehner, a conservative with a penchant for compromise, has spent the past few months trying to harness the anger of the GOP base without allowing his conference to veer too far to the right. But never were the strains of that balancing act more apparent than during the Wilson vote, as the Ohio Republican tried to juggle his commitment to bipartisan civility with his responsibility to a besieged member of his conference. "It's very hard these days to be a leader like John Boehner who tries to find the middle ground," said former Connecticut Republican Rep. Chris Shays, one of the last Northeastern moderates, who was beaten by Democrat Jim Himes last year. "He's a conservative, but he's less conservative than his base," Shays added. "And he's got to lead a party that has been so battered and beaten that it's incredibly angry -- angry at what's going on in the country, angry at the way it's being treated by the majority." On Tuesday, Boehner -- who had worked with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to avoid an ugly confrontation over Wilson's "resolution of disapproval" -- took to the floor to accuse the Democrats of a "publicity stunt" in pushing for a Wilson reprimand. But many observers, including Republicans, noted that the leader, a wise-cracking chain smoker who sometimes finds it hard to mask his emotions, seemed just as disgusted with Wilson, making little eye contact with the man he was supposed to be defending. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said his boss has no conflict with Wilson -- and that the House GOP's complaints about President Barack Obama's programs represent the concerns of the wider public and not just conservatives. Posted by: Fred 2009-09-18 |
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