What will Boehner's legacy be?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Not going to do an FF HP pol, but how do you think the Speakership of John Boehner will be remembered in the future? His principle strengths and failings as a leader? What previous Speakers is he most likely to compared and contrasted with?

[Maxwell]

I think he will be remembered as a man who dealt with an increasingly cannibalistic GOP, didn't really handle it well, and ultimately it consumed him. From what I've read, his relationship with the President is pretty poor, even as Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden managed to get things done together. That being said, I think its more the first thing, the cannibalistic House GOP, then anything wrong Boehner was doing (Though I'm not sure he's that competent, he was kind of a "let's calm down guys" pick to replace Denny Hastert).

Ultimately I don't think he will have much of a legacy. He wasn't so controversial like Speaker Gingrich, and doesn't really compare to most speakers in terms of accomplishments.

[Orser67]

Probably an average or above average Speaker who helped a fractious conference avoid many major mistakes.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Probably an average or above average Speaker who helped a fractious conference avoid many major mistakes.

Whaaaat?

[RogueBeaver]

I think he will be remembered as a man who dealt with an increasingly cannibalistic GOP, didn't really handle it well, and ultimately it consumed him. From what I've read, his relationship with the President is pretty poor, even as Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden managed to get things done together. That being said, I think its more the first thing, the cannibalistic House GOP, then anything wrong Boehner was doing (Though I'm not sure he's that competent, he was kind of a "let's calm down guys" pick to replace Denny Hastert).

Ultimately I don't think he will have much of a legacy. He wasn't so controversial like Speaker Gingrich, and doesn't really compare to most speakers in terms of accomplishments.

[The Dowager Mod]

Abject failure.

[Maxwell]

and let's be fair, the alternative to him for most of his speakership was Eric Cantor, so compared to Cantor, Boehner was the greatest speaker in history.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Worst Speaker in the past 30 years.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Outright failure. Hastert and Gingrich were FAR better.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Probably an average or above average Speaker who helped a fractious conference avoid many major mistakes.

Whaaaat?

I suppose one can argue from a certain perspective that he did manage to avoid a large number of "issues". The minuses being the shutdown and the credit rating downgrade, but Boehner did manage to avoid the fiscal cliff, sovereign default and a number of other such traps.

From a conservative perspective, this Vox article argues that he was better at slashing spending than any other speaker:
http://www.vox.com/2015/9/25/9397803/john-boehner-spending-cuts

[Maxwell]

Outright failure. Hastert and Gingrich were FAR better.

I think you have a nostalgic memory, with all due respect. Gingrich was massively corrupt and a public relations disaster, and the less said about Speaker Denny Hastert, the better. Not that Boehner was this amazing speaker, but to me, he was certainly not as outright offensive as Gingrich nor Hastert.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Outright failure. Hastert and Gingrich were FAR better.

I think you have a nostalgic memory, with all due respect. Gingrich was massively corrupt and a public relations disaster, and the less said about Speaker Denny Hastert, the better. Not that Boehner was this amazing speaker, but to me, he was certainly not as outright offensive as Gingrich nor Hastert.

Gingrich did many good things for the country such as forcing Clinton to agree to welfare the reform, able to work with Clinton to balance the budget, and actually limited the size of government.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Outright failure. Hastert and Gingrich were FAR better.

Remove hastart and I agree

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Things actually got accomplished in the Gingrich and Hastert Congresses. And neither had a trifecta for their whole speakership (the senate was 51-49 Dem from June 2001 to January 2003). Now, I don't agree with (most of) the actions of the Hastert congress, but looking at this from a legacy standpoint, speakers should be judged based on their ability to get things done. And Hastert, Gingrich, heck even Pelosi (including the two years she had to deal with a republican president), were far more productive than Boehner, who did nothing but sit around, often refusing to put up bipartisan bills that would have passed the house for the purpose of his own political welfare (think the 2013 senate immigration bill). He deserves no gratitude at all from those of us who are like me and want to see real compromise and debate in the United states congress.

[bagelman]

he will be remembered as a do-nothing politician

[Blue3]

With all this talk about Gingrich and Hastert... are we forgetting Nancy Pelosi was Speaker?

Democrats were so unified under her, and passed so many bills.

Comparing Boehner as Speaker to Pelosi as Speaker... what a difference.

But I think I'll miss him, oddly enough. I wonder how this McCarthy guy is going to be.

[OSR stands with Israel]

With all this talk about Gingrich and Hastert... are we forgetting Nancy Pelosi was Speaker?

Democrats were so unified under her, and passed so many bills.

Comparing Boehner as Speaker to Pelosi as Speaker... what a difference.

But I think I'll miss him, oddly enough. I wonder how this McCarthy guy is going to be.

Gingirch>Pelosi. Pelosi was ineffective as speaker from 2007-2009 and during her term let the defict explode like crazy

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

and let's be fair, the alternative to him for most of his speakership was Eric Cantor, so compared to Cantor, Boehner was the greatest speaker in history.

This.

[NeverAgain]

With all this talk about Gingrich and Hastert... are we forgetting Nancy Pelosi was Speaker?

Democrats were so unified under her, and passed so many bills.

Comparing Boehner as Speaker to Pelosi as Speaker... what a difference.

But I think I'll miss him, oddly enough. I wonder how this McCarthy guy is going to be.

Gingirch>Pelosi. Pelosi was ineffective as speaker from 2007-2009 and during her term let the defict explode like crazy

I made adjustments to this for reference.

[Antonio the Sixth]

With all this talk about Gingrich and Hastert... are we forgetting Nancy Pelosi was Speaker?

Democrats were so unified under her, and passed so many bills.

Comparing Boehner as Speaker to Pelosi as Speaker... what a difference.

But I think I'll miss him, oddly enough. I wonder how this McCarthy guy is going to be.

Gingirch>Pelosi. Pelosi was ineffective as speaker from 2007-2009 and during her term let the defict explode like crazy

0111111010101111111111100000000001010

[Oakvale]

Outright failure. Hastert and Gingrich were FAR better.

I don't think Boehner was the Second Coming or anything but I think he's probably better than a rapist nonce.

[ElectionsGuy]

Nothingness.

[SATW]

Are people forgetting that Hastert is a POS?

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

I would not make any bets until Nov 1. There's a non-zero chance that, unhinged by having to worry about maintaining the speakership, he will abandon the Hastert Rule completely and move more legislation through Congress in the next 30 days since December 2010.