Well, anyone can, including me, so why not? Why not, indeed?
The major topic of Inside the Beltway Baseball these days is whether Rep. Paul Ryan will accept the job of Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ryan is under enormous pressure from the Establishment wing of the Republican Party to do so, but one can wonder if Ryan will see the point of being a sport. Consider the following:
Speaker John Boehner quit because he couldn’t stand the endless harassment he received from the 40 or so Republicans who make up the House Freedom Caucus crowd. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy immediately nominated himself for the job, and “everyone” assumed he was cruising to an easy victory when he suddenly took himself out of the running.
McCarthy was the weakest House majority leader in recent memory. He was repeatedly rolled by the Freedom Caucus, and, when he aspired to the Speakership, they crushed him. forcing him to give up his fondest dream. As Speaker, McCarthy would have been endless pressure by the right to give them a “voice”–that is, surrender the prerogatives of power that the Speaker (Republicans, at least) have enjoyed since the days of Newt Gingrich. In other words, they would harass McCarthy mercilessly until he conceded them additional powers with which to harass him.
Whoever becomes Speaker, McCarthy will back at his old job as majority leader. How powerful will he be this time around? Half as powerful as before? Well, if he’s lucky. Since McCarthy isn’t moving up, no one else is moving up, meaning that Boehner’s resignation won’t provide new spoils. Because the Freedom Caucus won’t be getting any of their guys in the leadership, they’ll be twice as aggressive in demanding more “freedom”–more freedom to piss on the House leadership.
Ryan, of course, is demanding the complete opposite–“full support,” meaning that he wants it guaranteed that he’ll have more power than Boehner had. How likely is it that the Freedom Caucus, having rolled Boehner, will now accept “Super Boehner”? Why should they? As far as they’re concerned, confrontation works. Having won the battle, they’re ready to win the war, and as far as they’re concerned, it should Ryan’s cock on the chopping block, not theirs. Ryan has but one dick to give for his party. But why should he?
