Quarterbacking Congress

I'm not a huge fan of John Boehner.

But now that he has both houses of Congress to work with, let's give him a chance to move the Republican offense down the field to the end zone.

After fighting off a challenge to his speakership this week, Boehner has held on to his job as the starting QB of the GOP's legislative team in Washington.

Boehner and his Boys of Winter have a lot of hard work to do for the next two years, on and off the field.

But thanks to six years of fumbles by Obama at home and away, and Republican victories in the midterm elections last fall, the GOP is looking like the team to beat in 2016.

The Republican position in Congress is stronger than it's been in decades.

Boehner has the largest majority - 246 to 188 - in the House since Truman was president. And the Senate is solidly in Republican hands with a 54-seat majority.

It's now or pretty much never if Republicans hope to retake the Oval Office and reverse the damage done to America by Team Obama.

But before QB Boehner even thinks about which legislative play to call first - "Keystone -- 686 Pump F-Stop, on two"? - he and his party need to do some cheerleading for their own team.

Boehner has been badly roughed up by everyone since 2011. The liberal media mock him.

The conservative media have booed him unmercifully and he was almost sacked by some of his own teammates for being a wimpy conservative or a stooge of Obama.

But Boehner and the Republican House he has presided over deserve credit for a miraculous accomplishment that few people, even Republicans, know about.

Thanks mostly to the House, Congress has actually reduced federal spending for the last two years.

The cuts are nowhere near what they should be -- $3.60 trillion in 2011 to $3.54 trillion in 2012 to $3.45 trillion in 2013.

But it's an important turnaround. It's the first two consecutive years of federal spending cuts since 1953. Republicans should be tooting their own horn about that spending drop from coast to coast, because the liberal media sure aren't going to do it.

Meanwhile, Boehner's game plan for the next two years is nothing new or complicated. The people of America want the Congress to work - and get to work.

They want it to pass legislation that will create jobs and opportunity for Americans.

It's up to Congress - and QB Boehner -- to make that happen by pushing through laws to kill ObamaCare, cut taxes, cut spending budgets, slash regulations and repeal legislation (like ObamaCare) that harms the economy.

If President Obama wants to veto everything a Republican Congress passes, fine.

Let him become known as the obstructer in chief. Let Americans see that he's the one whose policies need to be rejected in 2016.

Boehner and his conservative Congress have to be careful, however. They need to approach the Washington political "game" the way Ronald Reagan did.

My father looked at the legislative process in Washington like it was a football field.

He knew that if you move the ball 10 yards at a time, you'll eventually get to the end zone and you'll accomplish something.

He knew politics is always a work in progress. It's the art of negotiation.

Boehner and the Republican Congress don't need to do everything this week or all at once.

The worst thing QB Boehner could do is to start throwing a bunch of Hail Mary passes into the end zone. He should move the ball 10 yards at a time.

If he plays it right, Republicans will score their TD and win the Super Bowl - the presidency of the United States in 2016.

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Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). He is the founder of the email service reagan.com and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation.