As speaker of the House, John Boehner could have chosen any of a number of paths through the fight over Department of Homeland Security funding. For some reason, he went for the lose-lose option. By drawing out the fight and allowing DHS to go to the brink of shutdown once, he highlighted the Republican Party's willingness to take hostages and govern by crisis. By
losing a vote on a three-week funding extension, then
caving quickly after a one-week extension passed at the last minute, he highlighted what an incredibly weak leader he is.
I mean, the man is weak. The far-right Republicans who pushed him to draw out the DHS fight say so:
“How did we end up with kind of a slow demise, you mean, even after a very hefty kind of rhetoric?” asked Representative John Fleming, Republican of Louisiana. “Well, apparently that’s the way it’s done around here. I don’t agree with it.”
Maybe more damagingly,
even his allies say so:
And for the first time since he became speaker, the lawmakers closest to him are openly wondering whether he can effectively govern. They support him and praise his skills, but they also acknowledge his weakness and his hard-core detractors. Many Republicans believe that Boehner simply cannot win another term as speaker. In fact, the best argument Boehner’s friends make about his future is that no one else in the Capitol wants his job — hardly a ringing endorsement of Boehner’s legislative finesse.
At this point, it's hard to know how anyone, however firm and charismatic a leader, could rein in the hardliners at the far right of the House Republican caucus. But that's partly because Boehner has let them have their way for years—setting up the dynamic that's biting him in the ass now. And why did he do that? Partly because as much as he wants the media to portray him as a responsible adult who wants to govern responsibly, he's got some pretty extreme views himself. And partly because he's been a weak, ineffective leader all along.