Jonah Goldberg uses his latest column at National Review Online to offer congressional Republicans an interesting suggestion for their next selection as U.S. House speaker.
There is nothing in the Constitution that says the speaker must be an elected member of the House. The House could pick anyone from Carrot Top to Oprah as speaker. Those options don’t make any sense (though Oprah would probably place some wonderful gifts under members’ seats). But there is one non-member who might bring the skills the moment requires: Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich was the architect of the “Contract with America.” He led Republicans to the first congressional majority in 40 years. His speakership was not without faults, but Gingrich has matured. At 72, he is literally an elder statesman of the party and still one of its most gifted communicators.
He also happened to be, for a while, the first choice for president in 2012 among many of the same people who wanted Boehner’s head. He knows how backbench firebrands think, because he was one himself. More important, he’s got an encyclopedic grasp of the institution’s power and limitations.
Since no one seems to have thought about what to do after getting rid of Boehner, Gingrich may be the ideal placeholder until Congress gets its act together. He poses no long-term threat to anyone’s ambitions, and in the short term he could be a unifying figure.
