It took Americans almost four years to learn how to pronounce John Boehner's last name — just in time for him to resign as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now, many are wondering who delivered the knockout punch and what is next for House Republicans.
Boehner made the emotional announcement last Friday. And Republicans all across the country were emotional too — some of them, overjoyed.
Many far-right conservatives were frustrated with the efforts of the speaker.
David McLennan, visiting professor of political science at Meredith College, said he believes the speaker was forced out.
“(The Republican caucus was) putting a lot of pressure on him to stand up to the Obama administration, generally, but more specifically because of the continuing resolution that was needed to get the budget funded," he said.
The resolution at issue, pushed by Boehner, was an effort to avoid a government shutdown, and came despite pressure from House conservatives who have said that they will not support a bill that supports Planned Parenthood.
While Boehner has been criticized for not being conservative enough, Michael Cobb, associate professor of political science at North Carolina State University, said the pressure was unwarranted.
“That specific vote — for all the conservatism that Boehner possesses — that vote was a senseless vote,” Cobb said. “There was no way they could defund Planned Parenthood. There’s checks and balances. The president was going to veto it. (The Republicans) didn’t respect Boehner, he was trapped.”
With Boehner gone, there is much speculation about who will replace him.
“All the signs point to Kevin McCarthy,” said McLennan. “He’s been talking to all people in the Republican Caucus. Boehner scheduled the vote next week. They pretty much already know who it’s going to be. I think the real issue is will members of the Freedom Caucus get the majority leader and the whip. Patrick McKinley from N.C. is pushing to get one of those slots.”
He said Boehner's resignation — rather than pacifying the House Freedom Caucus, the group of far-right conservatives in Congress founded by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. — will embolden Meadows' band of rightists.
"(The House Freedom Caucus) are going to play even tougher than Boehner against the Obama administration — we're going to see an even more partisan environment n Washington," McLennan said. "The Republicans are going to be even more bold in terms of pushing for more significant changes in the Obama administration."
So if Boehner wasn’t conservative enough, will the next Speaker of the House be?
“McCarthy is sending signals that he is not as willing to compromise with the Senate — with McConnell — and ultimately with the Obama administration,” said McLennan. “He might draw a tougher line in the sand than Boehner has — how that’ll pan out in the election year remains to be seen. This is going to have real ramifications for the Republicans in 2016.”
Cobb said regardless of whoever takes over Boehner's speakership, any true right-wing conservative in power would wreak havoc.
“There aren’t many more real right-winged left — if someone were to be, there’s going to be mayhem," Cobb said.
"There were 50 votes to repeal Obamacare that went nowhere. The problem with Boehner is that he wasn’t that effective — maybe someone could have corralled the Republicans. But some of the representatives are like the joker in Batman, 'they don’t mind seeing things burn.' And that’s messed up because it’s the government, but that’s the way it is.”
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