A very smart speech by Speaker Boehner 
 
 By Ezra Klein 
 
 If you spent the afternoon watching C-SPAN, as I did, you heard applause. A lot of it. Over and over again. And when John Boehner took the podium to be sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it swelled back up, and stayed there. No one Republican member of Congress wants to be the first to stop applauding the new speaker. 
 
 Luckily, Boehner did it for them. “It’s still just me," he said with a smile. 
 
 Traditionally, politicians overpromise in these moments. If you look back to Nancy Pelosi's speech upon becoming speaker in 2007, or Newt Gingrich's speech upon becoming speaker in 1995, you'll see broad, ambitious, ideologically-charged agendas. Gingrich wanted "to find a way to truly replace the current welfare state with an opportunity society." Pelosi sought "a new America that declares our energy independence, promotes domestic sources of renewable energy, and combats climate change." 
 
 Boehner promised almost nothing at all. He certainly didn't set himself up as a foil to President Obama, or anoint himself leader of a new conservative moment in American politics. Rather, his speech had two themes: Humility, and comity. He called his chamber "the people's house," and said "we are carrying out their instructions." He spent a lot of time on the "scar tissue" that has built up under "some of the rituals that have come to characterize this institution under majorities Republican and Democratic alike." He promised a new era of openness and minority cooperation in the House. He emphasized his recognition that he held the gavel not because American liked him or his party, but because they were angry at the government and the Democrats who ran it. 
 
 It was, I think, as smart a speech as I've seen a politician give -- in part because it was savvy about what it didn't say, which is a rare virtue in Washington. Of course, the speech is the easy part. The rules Boehner is pushing through the House make it vastly easier to increase the deficit through tax cuts, an outcome that won't sit well with Boehner's repeated pledge to hold down the debt. Moreover, Republicans are already having to break their rules to pursue the repeal of health-care reform without paying for it -- a procedural offense in favor of a symbolic vote that, in addition to increasing the deficit, won't exactly usher in a new era of respect and esteem between the two parties. 
 
 That's to be expected, perhaps. Many speakers before Boehner have entered the House promising more openness and cooperation and given up on those promises when they began to conflict with more action. And Boehner himself has not always been able to "disagree without being disagreeable." It's when the going gets tough that speakers turn hard. 
 
 So we'll see. But thus far, Boehner's political instincts have been quite impressive. The White House may have a more able opponent in him than they thought. 
 
 Photo credit: Alex Brandon / AP. ||||| NRCC ELECTIONS HQ — The next Speaker of the House is one emotional dude. As he celebrated the end of Democratic rule in the lower house of Congress with several hundred friends here in downtown Washington, John Boehner broke down and cried while the crowd chanted “USA! USA!” 
 
 “I’ve spent my life trying to chase the American dream,” Boehner said, his voice cracking. He went on to espouse the virtues of capitalism and small business ownership in the way that you’d expect from the man who just led the Republican Party back from the political wilderness. Except with more tears. 
 
 The rest of Boehner’s speech looked forward to a world where Republicans run the House and the Democrats kowtow to tea party demands. 
 
 “We are witnessing a repudiation,” Boehner said, claiming that with each GOP vote rolling in, “America is putting Washington on notice.” 
 
 In a theme that ran throughout the night, Boehner promised his Republican Congressional majority would not be the same one lost to the Democrats four years ago. Speaker after speaker got up tonight and promised a more austere and respectful GOP, one that took to heart the so-called Pledge To America that Bohener touted as his party’s political agenda on the campaign trail this fall. 
 
 “This new majority is prepared to do things differently,” Boehner said. 
 
 He didn’t get into policy specifics but did offer these three tenets for how things will go in the House staring in January when Boehner and his compatriots are sworn in. 
 
 Boehner said the Republicans will govern by “cutting spending instead of increasing it, reducing the size of government instead of increasing it” and “reforming the way Congress works” and “giving the government back to the people.” 
 
 He said the party will start off by “ending uncertainty in our economy and putting our citizens back to work.” 
 
 For all the talk of a kinder, gentler more attentive GOP, however, Bohener made it clear who he thought the vote tonight was really aimed at. 
 
 “The people have sent a message to President Obama,” he said. “Change course.” 
 
 Evan McMorris-Santoro Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC. 
 
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– Incoming House speakers have a long tradition of overreaching in their opening speeches, writes Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. John Boehner took the opposite approach today with his themes of "humility and comity," and that's why Klein loved it. Boehner didn't gloat on behalf of himself or his party, and he didn't set himself up as the savior of conservatives or the "foil" to the White House. He even pledged to try to heal the "scar tissue" between the parties with more openness. "It was, I think, as smart a speech as I've seen a politician give—in part because it was savvy about what it didn't say, which is a rare virtue in Washington," writes Klein. Time will tell whether he can follow through, "but thus far, Boehner's political instincts have been quite impressive. The White House may have a more able opponent in him than they thought." Click here to read the full text of Boehner's speech.