The Opinion Outpost features opinions and commentary on the latest hot topics from national news sources. As much as you love hearing from The Universe, we thought you might like to hear from journalists around the nation.
John Boehner
Before the speaker’s decision to throw in the towel was made, he did not have enough votes within the Republican conference to get re-elected, and his staff was looking for support among Democrats to help give him a fourth term holding the gavel. Getting just enough years from liberals in the minority party was a trick he used successfully to pass legislation unpopular with the Republican base, but eventually a speaker can’t run the chamber if he can’t control his own party.
In some ways, Speaker Boehner was in a no-win position. Without filibuster-proof Republican control of the Senate, the House’s ability to enact change was limited. But the Ohioan didn’t handle the delicate situation diplomatically, using an iron fist to punish dissent and stifle internal debate.
— Brett M. Decker
USA Today
Was all this fair to Boehner? I like Boehner personally, and I think he got more grief than he deserved, which is different than saying he didn’t deserve any of the grief he got.
…When the leader becomes an impediment to his members, it’s time for him — or her — to go. The question now is what to do about it.
— Jonah Goldberg
Los Angeles Times
In 2010, I interviewed Boehner when he was minority leader and I asked him to cite the most important lesson he learned when Republicans lost their hard-won House majority in 2006. He replied, “Our team failed to live up to our own principles.”
Failing to live up to GOP principles, indeed, failing to articulate what those principles are, was largely the reason for the increase in conservative members who then demanded either action or the speaker’s head. They got his head. Whether that means his successor will do a better job is open to question.
— Cal Thomas
Fox News
Airstrike on Syria
Vladimir Putin again caught President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry utterly flat-footed Wednesday by abruptly launching airstrikes deep in Syria.
…Obama’s press secretary turned verbal somersaults trying to explain why Putin hadn’t mentioned the coming strikes at their meeting Monday. That conversation, said Josh Earnest, “was not at the operational level.”
This is just the latest case of Putin catching Obama & Co. off-guard on Syria. They got blindsided by Russia’s intelligence-sharing arrangement with Iran, Iraq and Syria, too.
Forget the complete absence of a coherent policy — at this point, you have to wonder if Team Obama has any idea of what’s actually going on in Syria.
— Editorial Board
New York Post
The failure of President Obama’s Iraq-Syria policy is now so obvious that his advisers can no longer spin it away.
Mr. Obama’s policy created a power vacuum in the Middle East that Russian President Vladimir Putin has filled. By seizing the initiative in the fight against ISIS, Putin is trying to create a new Russian-led regional axis that will counter American influence and portray Russia as a more reliable partner. This gambit could have major benefits for Putin, including possibly by convincing Europe to drop its sanctions against Russia due to its intervention in Ukraine by promising to stop the flow of refugees to Europe from Syria.
…Given that this situation is the result of seven years of incompetent policy by this administration and the president’s continuing refusal to take decisive action in Iraq or Syria, it is hard to see what the Obama administration can do to reverse it.
— Fred Fleitz
Fox News
Obama has been right in his ambivalence about getting deeply involved in Syria. But he’s never had the courage of his own ambivalence to spell out his reasoning to the American people. He keeps letting himself get pummeled into doing and saying things that his gut tells him won’t work, so he gets the worst of all worlds: His rhetoric exceeds the policy, and the policy doesn’t work.
…Personally, I’ll take the leader who lacks the courage of his own ambivalence over the critics who lack the wisdom of their own experience. But ambivalence is not a license to do nothing. We can do things that make a difference, but only if we look at our enemies and allies in Syria with clear eyes.
— Thomas L. Friedman
The New York Times
Of course the U.S. and its allies must reject Putin’s suggestion that they join forces with “the Syrian authorities and government forces who valiantly fight terrorists on the ground.” But Russian assistance in defeating Islamic State — an objective the U.S. seems to have elevated above an early exit for Assad — shouldn’t be spurned simply because Moscow supports Assad, or because of differences on other matters, such as Ukraine.
… Despite the praise Putin offered at the United Nations for the “valiant” regime in Damascus, Russia might be willing to support a peace agreement in which Assad would eventually step down or at least agree to share power with opponents. The U.S. is right to explore that possibility.
— The Boulder Daily Camera
