Speaker of the House John Boehner

As a director of CME/PAC, I get the opportunity to meet a lot of the politicians that are in the news.  I have met them from both sides of the aisle.  Politicians are gregarious people by nature.  No matter what they think politically, you can generally have a pretty decent laugh with them.

I was lucky to have met John Boehner on several occasions, and spent a bit of time with him well before he was in the upper echelons of power in the the House.

He is the real deal.

Too many people are making too much of the tears he has shed on television.  If you met John, you’d instantaneously know that he is truly amazed that a guy like him could rise to a position once occupied by Fredrick Muhlenberg, Henry Clay, and future President James Polk.  Two former speakers have office buildings named after them.  I doubt that is what John Boehner had in mind when he assumed the role!

But “the real deal” has a lot of generality to it.  When I say real deal, I mean John is a middle class guy.  It’s not just that he had a bunch of brothers and sisters and had a father that ran a small business.  John understands the values of the typical American. He is no country club blue blooded Republican-even though he likes to tee it up.

Most of America were not born with silver spoons in their mouths.  They took risk, and worked hard for whatever they got.  It wasn’t luck, or chance like many would have you believe.  It wasn’t someone doing them a big favor and they fell into it. It is the American dream.  That is a powerful message.  There isn’t another country in the world like it.

There are plenty of folks like John Boehner out there.  As a matter of fact, there are more folks out there like John Boehner than anyone else.  Few Americans are born into extravagant, generational wealth.  But every single American that is born is entitled to chase the American dream.

Democratic policies, and some Republican ones, have put roadblocks into that chase.  John gets that.  He knows exactly the route the American dream follows.  He has seen every milepost.

It’s why he was so angry during the socialization of health care, and the abominable Dodd-Frank bill.  That wasn’t an act or high drama.  Don’t confuse Boehner with Laurence Olivier!  He is just a middle class guy and it’s also why he understands the Tea Party so well.  It’s why yesterday, when he gave his speech from the podium, it was humbling for him.  His speech should give humility to each and everyone of us as well.

You can judge a leader with his words, but you can also tell a lot about a leader from his actions.  Speaker Boehner has used strong words in the past.  But, in starting to lead, it’s really interesting who his leadership cadre is.  Many of them are just like him.  Worked their way up and were successful.  Darrel Issa, Peter Roskam, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor.  They get small business.  They understand entrepreneurs.  They participated in business before they ran for office.

This will be interesting to watch.  Virtually every right wing website I have read is starting to keep score.  They will not hesitate to call out the Republicans if they deviate from their task of reducing the size of government, the reach of government, and the spending of government. The left will cry foul, but they were going to do that anyway.  Boehner and Company know the arduous task ahead of them.  They are beginning to climb the mountain, and set the table for 2012.  Dismantling 80 years of bad economic policy takes time and is hard.  (I am referring to the New Deal of 1932)

Go get ‘em Speaker Boehner, Godspeed to you.

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