There has been plenty of attention given to the House Republicans storming the floor and protesting the refusal of House Democrats to vote on legislation increasing the domestic supply of oil.
Aside from the great theatrics of it, something struck me: for the first time, I really saw John Boehner as a solid minority leader, not just of the House Republicans, but of the GOP overall.
Now, Boehner and the House Republicans had done a great job wrapping Nancy Pelosi around an axle with motions to recommit and other parliamentary maneuvers. Similarly Mitch McConnell schools Harry Reid day in and day out on parliamentary procedure, although it is probably a lot easier to be Senate Minority Leader than Majority Leader. But I don’t think that I had ever really seen him clearly define both the Republicans and the Democrats on an issue with anything like the clarity or flair that we saw on Friday.
I have heard a lot of chatter about the leadership races after the elections, especially if John McCain were to lose. Who would be the symbol or the leader of the GOP?
After Friday, and continuing this week, one could actually imagine John Boehner in that role.
Hopefully John McCain will beat Barack Obama — and you all need to work to make sure that happens –, and it won’t come to that. But if he doesn’t, I feel a lot better about our leadership than I had before.