How one Tea Partier learned to love John Boehner

The retiring House speaker is an American hero. I'll miss him.

John Boehner.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The announcement last Friday that John Boehner is retiring as speaker of the House was a surprise, but it wasn't a shock, as Marc Ambinder noted. Boehner seemed almost universally disliked — especially within his own caucus —and certainly never seemed to enjoy the job. Ted Cruz's characteristically classless send-off seemed to speak for the many conservatives who openly loathed Boehner.

Well, I'm a conservative — and a member of the Tea Party. And I still want to praise John Boehner, who almost certainly did as well as anybody could have done in a no-win position.

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Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a writer and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, First Things, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other places. He lives in Paris with his beloved wife and daughter.