Boehner: Once a Crusader, always a Crusader

About 200 juniors and seniors at Moeller High School got a chance to grill one of their school's most famous alumni Monday afternoon when House Majority Leader John Boehner, class of '68, stopped by for a visit.

They were impressed, but not too impressed - this, after all, is Moeller, the school that produced Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Larkin, and a host of other famous people whose name recognition factor is a lot higher than the Republican congressman from West Chester.

Boehner, back in town while Congress is in recess, stopped by the school office before heading to the school theater for an hour-long question-and-answer session with the history and government students.

"That was Brother Eveslage's office,'' said Boehner, pointing to the corner principal's office where Brother Lawrence Eveslage ran the Marianist high school in Boehner's day. "You did not want to find yourself in there.''

Inside the theater, which used to be a gym where Boehner played for the Crusaders' basketball team, the House majority leader stood in front of a huge banner featuring his high school photo and told the students that he and his eight brothers grew up in Reading and went to high school at Moeller.

"I'll tell you this now and move on, because I get kind of choked up talking about it, but you have no idea how lucky you are to be in a place like this,'' Boehner said.

Boehner said he entered Congress 15 years as as part of a Republican minority, helped Newt Gingrich pull off the "Republican revolution'' of 1994, and now finds himself in "a really tough job. It's like herding cats.''

All things considered, though, it is good to be in the majority, Boehner said.

"When you are in the minority, everything is harder. Being in the minority, you can show up or not show up. Your vote doesn't matter much.''

In a 40-minute question-and-answer session, the students peppered him with questions on a wide range of issues - the war in Iraq ("You have to understand one thing - this is the right war; we are at war with people who want to kill us); reports that the Russians passed on U.S. war plans to Saddam Hussein ("It's not been proven yet, but I wouldn't be surprised''); lobbying scandals in Congress ("Sunlight is the best disinfectant; disclosure is the best way to reform the system"); the federal response to Katrina ("a horrible job.'')

One young man asked Boehner if he had any interest in running for president. The answer was an unqualified "no.''

"You have to be somebody really special or be half out of your mind to do that,'' Boehner said. "I like having a real life. In the White House, you have no life.

"I've always said the presidency is like climbing into a jail cell and letting people throw stones at you through the bars.''