Alumnus Unveiled
November 29, 2019 |
Nancy Pelosi. Kevin McCarthy. Chuck Schumer. Mitch McConnell. And an occasionally controversial Jesuit chaplain.
What single purpose brought them all into the same room this week?
You guessed it: to honor Speaker John A. Boehner (XU 1977) at the unveiling of his portrait for the Capitol building (video and transcription available on CSPAN).
Each of the speakers offered (more or less) good-natured ribbing about Boehner's signature red wine and cigarettes.* And especially his tears. The current Speaker even left him the box of tissues that she--and everyone else in the room--knew he would need.
Mostly they praised Speaker Boehner--as the son of Cincinnati bar owners who always spoke frankly, disagreed without being disagreeable, and believed that effective governance required principled compromises.
And as someone convinced that providing people a great education is the best way to empower them.
Hence the vision for the Boehner Institute.
And to that (pace the prohibitionist whose visage loomed sternly over the Speaker's portrait), I gladly raised my own glass.
* Unfamiliar reference? Start watching at 2:00
