Tea party Republicans' anger at John Boehner was always just a primal scream against President Obama.
The GOP U.S. House speaker knew that, and last week made the surprise announcement that he would hang it up.
Boehner's press conference was something to behold. I've never seen a resigning politician look so visibly relieved, so completely at peace — he literally sang a bar from "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."
By any objective standard, Boehner is going out on a high note. When Obama took office in 2009, Republicans languished in deep minorities in Congress. Boehner and now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., forged a pact to oppose whatever Obama did.