Word: speaker
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...almost hard to remember what the House Speaker was before Gingrich--a back-room fellow, the big man who sat in the House basement and drank bourbon and branch, kept a card file of favors given and received, scores to be settled in the private pathways of the Capitol. He still gets a big car and a big staff and is third in line to the presidency, but his job has always been a perch carved out of persuasion as much as power, especially when the vote is close...
...Speaker prided himself on being a manager. He called himself the revolution's chairman of the board. He sent his assistants to military installations to learn management techniques. And he invited FORTUNE 500 chief executive officers to dinner to talk about restructuring large institutions--in this case, he had the U.S. Congress in mind. He rearranged the furniture in the House in ways that will affect every Speaker who follows him: gone are the dynastic committee chairs, who could foil any zealous Speaker's plans; Gingrich scrapped the seniority system and installed his own disciples, some of whom were three...
...that history made it hard, after the elections last week, for anyone to trust Gingrich with another two years as Speaker. Most may have been willing, once again, to accept his promises of change--change in management, in decision making, in priorities. But there was one thing Gingrich couldn't change. "The problem for the party is that Newt is the face of the party," said a G.O.P. congressional operative on the eve of Gingrich's resignation. "Until we elect a President, he's the most visible spokesman we have. The snake won't die unless...
...wrestles the same alligators. The problem for the party is that the very traditions and mechanisms of the House may prevent the Republicans from finding the leader they desperately need. No member of Congress with the experience, the stature or the chits to be a plausible candidate for Speaker resembles the kind of Republican leader that last week the voters signaled they liked. "We still need to prove that we can be conservative without being mean," said a G.O.P. moderate Senator. In Washington that means finding a handsome, telegenic lawmaker to go on the Sunday talk shows. Outside Washington...
What best prepares a man to be speaker of the House? Being the water boy for his high school football team? Enjoying the rowdy pleasures of his college frat house? Or learning how to play the trumpet while driving a car? The first Republican to make a grab at Gingrich's job last week has all those qualifications, which may come in handy in a job that requires carrying water for brawling factions, holding steady in a raucous ideological environment and doing more than one thing at a time...