House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner – Profiles in Political Cowardice

Will Not Say He Supports Citizenship as Part of Immigration Reform

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is supposed to be leader, one who sets out an agenda and works to achieve that agenda.  The current Speaker, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio will probably go down in history as about the weakest Speaker ever.  And his failure to provide leadership on key issues will be the cause.

The current debacle over immigration reform involves whether or not a path to citizenship will be a part of any new laws.  Some Republicans have already signed on to that concept for those illegal aliens brought to the United States as children, and this is greatly to their credit.  But for those adults who have been in the United States for many years the issue is much more difficult.

The country as a whole supports the concept of letting these people stay and ultimately granting them citizenship.  But the folks who opposed that are clustered into districts that are represented by Republicans in the House.  So Mr. Boehner can either go with the national consensus, or go with the radical conservatives.  He chose, neither.

Boehner, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," dodged repeated attempts to get him to spell out his personal views on a path to citizenship for up to 11 million illegal immigrants now in the United States, a major point of contention between the House and the Democratic-led Senate.

"It's not about me, it's not about what I want," said Boehner, an Ohio Republican. "This about allowing the House to work its will."

Actually Mr. Boehner it is about you.  See you are the leader of the House and the leader of your party.  What you say matters.  And if you do not have the political courage to say what you believe then maybe you ought to seek another line of work.  The country, the Democrats and even your fellow Republicans would be grateful were that to occur.