Boehner’s Exit Roils the GOP Presidential Race

Rick Klein: “John Boehner was torn down by the same forces that empowered him five years ago. He’s led a group that did not want to be led; he’s been speaker of a House that’s wanted action for its own sake. His exit may calm congressional waters in the short term. But it roils the presidential race, in splits made evident by Republican candidates who are either praising Boehner’s service or calling for his colleagues in leadership to topple along with him. Tea party voters have been Republican voters, but this has been an uneasy marriage from the moment they started to elect individuals to serve in a Washington they profess to hate.”

“Channeling those energies is critical to GOP math these days. Yet these are voters (and interest groups, of course) that don’t respond to top-down leadership decisions. How they respond to a fluid presidential race – with Donald Trump still the frontrunner, outsiders dominant, and some establishment candidates potentially resurgent – could determine the nomination, and perhaps the general election. Boehner’s fate is a lesson, though not a particularly useful one inside a party that’s still at war with itself.”