Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, made an announcement that shook not only members of his party, but the Democrats as well. He announced his resignation as Speaker. It has been reported that after the announcement, he sang a few bars of "zip-a-dee-doo-dah."
This announcement is significant for a number of reasons - Boehner is the most powerful Republican in America. He is only the fifth speaker to resign and the first to not be either moving to another government position or under investigation. The speaker is also the next person after the Vice President in the line of succession to the presidency.
It has been reported that he had "had enough" of the ideological combat in the Republican Party. What is almost as surprising was - the "odds-on" favorite to succeed him, Kevin McCarthy, subsequently announced he would not seek the Speaker position.
For me, this speaks volumes about America at this moment. Working "across the aisle" occurs no more in Congress. In fact, it looks they can't work across the invisible aisle within their own party. We have hard line members of Congress willing to shut down the government, as occurred in 2013, again this year and the year is not over and could still happen.
