House Speaker John Boehner, who will step down at the end of October, said on “Face the Nation” Sunday, “We have got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know, they know are never going to happen.”
The Speaker was referring to the latest threat by conservative Republicans to hold up spending authorization for the government if it includes $500 million in taxpayer funds going to Planned Parenthood.
According to the Speaker’s “wisdom,” and that from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other Republican establishment figures, a spending bill defunding Planned Parenthood will certainly be vetoed by the president, without sufficient votes in the Senate to override that veto. Republicans will then allegedly bear the brunt of public resentment for a government shutdown.
But Speaker Boehner’s characterization of the situation captures why conservatives are frustrated with him and the rest of the Republican establishment.
Leadership isn’t defined by polls or head counts. It is defined by principles and courage. If polls that reflect what happened yesterday are left to determine what happens tomorrow, why do we need leaders? If politics is the art of the possible, it is leadership that takes what seems impossible and brings it into the realm of the possible.
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The bottom line is that the supposed “leadership” in Washington, D.C. is either incompetent or complicit.
David DeGerolamo
