Woodward: John Boehner Is No Phenomenon Like Obama

By Matt Hadro | January 05, 2011 | 13:55

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Appearing on Wednesday's "Morning Joe," Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward dismissed the significance of the accession of Rep. John Boehner to the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives, saying that Presodent Obama's inauguration dwarfed Boehner's.

Politico's Mike Allen had reported that Capitol Hill had "the air of a Presidential Inauguration" Wednesday with a new Speaker of the House and 87 new Republican congressmen coming in. A few minutes later, Woodward tempered Allen's enthusiasm.

"I think Mike Allen's one of the best in the business, but to compare the Boehner coming to the Speakership with the Presidential Inaugural – four busloads, Mike? I mean, for Obama, for any president – c'mon, they had hundreds of busloads."

Allen was referring to the atmosphere and not necessarily to the numbers of attendees, but that didn't resonate with Woodward, who compared numbers of attendees of a Speaker's induction with that of a presidential inauguration.

"This is big!" Joe Scarborough protested. "It too will pass," replied Woodward.

Of course, the same could be said for Obama and the near-messianic expectations the media and the left projected on him.

A transcript of the segment, which aired on January 5 at 8:24 a.m. EDT, is as follows:

MIKE ALLEN: Well this morning, up on Capitol Hill, already there's the air of a Presidential Inauguration. The new members are having receptions, they have family in last night, soon-to-be Speaker Boehner – four busloads of Boehner friend and family have come in from the Ohio-8...

(...)

BOB WOODWARD: I think Mike Allen's one of the best in the business, but to compare the Boehner coming to the Speakership with the Presidential Inaugural – four busloads, Mike? I mean, for Obama, for any president, c'mon, they had hundreds of busloads.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is big! This is big! (Unintelligible)

WOODWARD: It too will pass.

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Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Matt Hadro on Twitter.

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Comments

Sounds like someones got a

Submitted by Airforce_5_O on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:02pm.

Sounds like someones got a man crush!!! Woodard needs to get out from under Obama's desk and start looking around at what is going on. The MSM and the Dems are in for a long two years.

Translation

Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:11pm.

John Boehner is not adept to lying to the American people like DuhOne is.

OR.....

John Boehner doesn't use a teleprompter, DuhOne can.

-Jon

Ah, the busloads...

Submitted by StarAZ on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:12pm.

Are those the same buses the admin throws things under? There may not be enough!

The fact that Allen's remark

Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:15pm.

The fact that Allen's remark was simply pointing out those four buses were carrying Boener's immediate family including 10 of his 11 brothers, sisters and their families went right over the head of the ever partisan jackass Woodward.

This is the typical pathetically, childish behavior that sets the true die hard progressive apart from us humans. Expect a whole lot more of it before the day is through.....

Barack_Must_Go.....

Good!

Submitted by JustAl on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:14pm.

Our nation can not survive any more "phenomena" like Obama.

Agreed

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:18pm.

Let the healing begin, with full health restored in 2012.

Duck!

Submitted by StarAZ on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:43pm.

I agree--the birds are already dropping out of the sky.

Phenomenon?

Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:18pm.

From Wikipedia - "a phenomenon is any event that is observable, however commonplace it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe, record, or compile data concerning it."

In light of that, I would have to agree with Woodward; Boehner is not a phenomenon like Obama. For which, I would like to thank God.

Oh, yeah?

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:20pm.

How many buses does God use? :-)

How many busloads does a

Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:19pm.

How many busloads does a President need. I want my president to work, not be adored

Nuke em til they glow; then shoot em in the dark

Do NOT fix that word!

Submitted by Rukus on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:22pm.

"...that Presodent Obama's inauguration..." PresOdent! LOL! Perfect!

_____________________________________________________________ I'm not too drunk to dance! It's just that people keep stepping on my hands!

LOL, Ruk

Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:39pm.

Perfect for that grinning ******.

I might have to start calling him "88" (piano keys).

Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)

Nice! I will use that.

Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:37pm.

Maybe if he gets kicked in the mouth by, say, a Clydesdale you can start calling him 57, since the number of teeth he'll have will equal the number of states in Obama's USA!

Comrade Bubba

Pepsodent

Submitted by BuffNBone on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:23pm.

In some circles our President skin tone might also be called a high yellow. So in two years I hope we'll all be asking "I wonder where the yellow went." Yes, I know I've just dated myself.

"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"

Buff, you played the "high yellow" card!

Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:32pm.

You really do like to fly through flak, don't you?

Comrade Bubba

On the other hand... what

Submitted by Bruzilla on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:25pm.

On the other hand... what sort of cost-cutting message does it send when bringing in four busloads of your friends and family is the first thing you do? Your buddies couldn't watch your installation on C-SPAN? Boehner seems to be just as obessed with himself as Pelosi was.

"Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony." Peasant

Even assuming that the government paid for the busses and not

Submitted by virginia republican on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:59pm.

Boehner personally, the amount spent was a tiny fraction of what Stretch Pelosi had the Feds pay for even one of her many flights out and back to San Francisco in an Air Force 757. That's not even including the cost of many junkets, especially the one to the so-called global warming conference (in Denmark as I recall).

Hey, at least she will not

Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:19pm.

Hey, at least she will not get any flights back. Yhe question is will the TSA grope her?

Nuke em til they glow; then shoot em in the dark

Ewwwwwww! With that disgusting thought in my head,

Submitted by no tingly legs on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:27pm.

how do I eat dinner? Don't even bring up what will be done with the porno pic TSA will take of her. Of course in reality, Pelosi isn't subject to genital massages or porno pics like us, the common rabble, are.

JAN 20, 2013: Change I can believe in.

Never happy

Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:57pm.

Would you rather Boehner used a C-32?

I hate to break it to you, and this may come to you as quite a shock: ALL politicians that get to that level have egos. ALL politicians who get to that level are just abour REQUIRED to be obsessed with themselves.

But then, we know two things about you from NB: 1) you will never be happy under any circumstances and 2) you are not a conservative.

"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)

Pee-Wee Herman was a

Submitted by the struggler on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:26pm.

Pee-Wee Herman was a phenom,too.

Like... you know...

Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:31pm.

Obama is sooooo 2008. We have moved on.

Obama had his wings clipped last November but his adorring supporters still believe he can fly.

Not clipped,neutered

Submitted by SnapTie on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:39pm.

He brought his family and friends in.How many family members did Obama have?

Passport Required?

Submitted by BuffNBone on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:25pm.

Could you be a little more clear about whether or not a passport is required for the family members?

"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"

Obama never had wings and never could fly.

Submitted by virginia republican on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:52pm.

That's just the BS his brainless supporters believed. You know, the ones waiting for him to make their rent and car payments. THAT check is apparently still in the mail.

To be honest....

Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:50pm.

To be honest, Boehner becoming Speaker is about as celebratory as anyone becoming Speaker. He's just the Speaker of the House, so what's the big deal?

By the way, aren't the Conservatives being rather hypocritical in their celebratory attitude? I mean, really, how many of us complained about the excessive way the Democrats celebrated Nancy when she became Speaker? Quite a few, as I remember. So, it was a legitimate target for ridicule when Democrats do it, but it's not a legitimate target for ridicule when Republicans do it?

Hay, people, he's just the Speaker of the House. That's an internal, parliamentary position, nothing more and nothing less. Let's not make him into the next Reagan, at least not until he becomes President (if possible), shall we?

In other words: Stop treating politicians as if they are American Royalty! That attitude is what is contributing to the expansion of government. When you treat a politician as a King or Queen, they'll ACT like Kings and Queens. Let's not replace Queen Pelosi with King Boehner, ok?

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

The speaker is also second in

Submitted by Reaver on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:09pm.

The speaker is also second in line for the presidency, giving it a bit more weight than just an internal parliamentary position.

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

Is he now?

Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:15pm.

Is he now? I didn't know that the Presidency is a position that is filled by accession. I always thought we, you know, ELECTED our President!

Let's not overstate the "importance" if being "second in line," shall we? When was the last time a Speaker ascended to the Presidency?

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

The idea is not when the last

Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:23pm.

The idea is not when the last time a speaker ascended to the Presidency. The idea is if one does we don't want a Pelosi.

Nuke em til they glow; then shoot em in the dark

Ok, I get it

Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 4:32pm.

Ok, I get it. We're not celebrating the installation of Boehner as Speaker of the House. We're celebrating the removal of Pelosi as Speaker of the House. How is THAT any different than how the liberals acted four years ago?

That type of political vindictiveness was just what a lot of conservatives were complaining about when Nancy became Speaker and the liberals celebrated that a Conservative Speaker was no longer in line to the Throne, I mean Presidency. Now we've come full circle and a lot of conservatives have become the petty, vindictive people we complained about so loudly for the last 4 years.

Way to go, people! You've become that which you hate the most! In a single act of political vindictiveness, the celebration of the political demise of a opposing political power, you've become Liberals yourselves!

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

Hmmmm...

Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 8:40pm.

Actually, methinks you are going from one extreme to another, and doing so quite needlessly.

I don't see Rightists celebrating Boehner by saying "We are the ones we have been waiting for" or placing him at the center of a personality cult the way the Left did His Majesty The Shahinshah. At least for me...I see potential. I hope he doesn't go wobbly. I appreciate the fact that today he acknowledged his time in the Speaker's position would be ephemeral and ultimately up to the voters both in his district and nationwide.

"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)

Today's events

Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 8:56pm.

I don't see it as acting like liberals either, there is a victory to be had here, and that's one of the war against the Constitution and the United States, which the Dems have waged for the last 2 years, with many casualties, millions of Americans. Certainly they were not killed, but they have been profoundly affected by everything that's happened. And the war is certainly not over either as long as Reid controls the Senate and the Usurper in Chief remains in power.

I am heartened by the move to recite the Constitution and even more so that Nancy Pelosi has to read some of it too. She's GOTTA be hating that, especially after having someone questioning her about the (un)Constitutionality of the Health Care(not) legislation just only barely a few months ago.

I read some of the transcripts of what's all happened, and it's rather disgusting that Pelosi(going to be respectful here for this moment instead of calling her Pelousy and etc) some of the things she said. Not so much like nasty rude things, but the outright prevarications she gave as if people weren't paying attention to the things that have happened that led to Nov 2, 2010. As we know, her claims to trying to fix things and etc, well, pretty much anything she's said about so-called accoplishments are just plain lies upon more lies. Consider the vote for the Minority Leader position, 19 Democrats voted AGAINST her, hadn't seen that kind of rebellion in a while. I looked it up, the last time there was something even remotely similar was 6 Republicans voting against New Gingrich. Even on her side, there are Democrats with a bone to pick with her.

I see this country at a dangerous crossroads and I truly believe the Republicans, especially the freshmen, see this in High Definition. We are at a dangerous crossroads that will either start the path to fix the country or continue down the path of no return to oblivion as a country. All the actions taken in the last 2 years have shown us that the Democrats will do WHATEVER it takes to harm this country and they have done so.

If the Democrats in the Senate understand the same big picture and also see it in high definition, perhaps they might indeed vote with the Republicans to repeal the health care legislation that will cripple this country(assuming the SCOTUS doesn't repeal it and even that's questionable). I was also heartened by Boehner's response to Reid(and 4 others) who wrote him a letter saying "don't bother with the repeal" and he fires back saying "thanks for the reminders of the back room deals with Big Pharma" and etc and the close of that letter "You're welcome." As Rush said, he was saying "up yours" to Harry et al.

We are at the beginning of the make or break point of this country. This is it.

God help us.

-Jon

You know

Submitted by hbnolikeee on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:49pm.

Raining feces is a phenomenon as well. You get it bozo?

hbnolikeee

I don't think this is media bias.

Submitted by Chris Of Rights on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:49pm.

In fact, I'd say it's true.

And that's a good thing.

Most people have no clue who the Speaker of the House is. That's a good thing. It allows him to do his job better.

Pelosi was such a liability precisely because she was so (in)famous.

Congrats to Boehner

Submitted by Tomorama on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 2:56pm.

I have no problem with Boehner doing this.

Large families STICK TOGETHER (at least ours did and does) and unlike Oblunder, Boehner HAS lived the American dream and worked his ass off every step of the way, from scrubbing floors at the age of ten to paying his way through college (no token here).

If he were um, um, um, um a certain "hue" he would be applauded, but he be white and weze white folk have bundles of cash as a birthright.

He get's choked up talking about it, BECAUSE IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO HIM.

From nothing to something, in my mind regardless of one's skin tone, I APPLAUD LOUDLY.

If you make poverty easy, you will have more of it. Benjamin Franklin

Wow Tomorama, you nailed it.

Submitted by virginia republican on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:05pm.

You must have been reading my mind. Just the fact that Boehner worked his butt off to get where he is, not relying on affirmative action (aka reverse discrimination) or being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, merits an "A+" from me from the get go.

Damn It Man, Haven't You Heard?

Submitted by JustAl on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:56pm.

It takes a villiage to raise children in the people's socialist utopia. Family? How un-progressive.

BOB WOODWARD

Submitted by BRADEN on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:11pm.

Outside of his watergate story this guy is a hack.

Watergate

Submitted by JustAl on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:53pm.

The downfall of Nixon, who gave us EPA, DEA, and normalized relations with the PRC, those have all certainly worked out well. Dick was a RINO before RINOs were cool. Also known to be no great defender of the 2nd amendment.

Woodward ?

Submitted by circusstorm on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:31pm.

The only Woodward i ever heard of was Joanne!!! then who is this guy ?

Obama is a phenomenon all

Submitted by rbosque on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 3:33pm.

Obama is a phenomenon all right. Trillions more in debt, blowing off our friends and kissing dictator's asses, high unemployment, increasing the size of gov't 25%, environmental / cap and trade policies guaranteed to screw the job market even further....

"It may be true that you can't fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country"......Will Durant

Alas,

Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 5:28pm.

the mighty white pillars and grand steps of the temple of Styrofoamos have crumbled like takeout coffee cups.

Is that Booby Woodward,

Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 5:34pm.

Is that Booby Woodward, getting his panties all bunched up and defending his man? Chris (Tingles) Matthews is gonna be all up in his grill!

Obama is no phenomenon

Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 01/05/2011 - 8:38pm.

He is an America and freedom-hating communist puke who is very rapidly ripping the blocks out of America's once stout foundation, while mindless idiots like Bob Woodhead cheer him on.

-Dave

Vote for the American in November