“He could come back,” California Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman told Forbes Newsroom on Friday, regarding President George W. Bush serving as the next Speaker of the House.
“Obviously, I’m not a real fan of how the Iraq War went, but I would think that any reasonable Republican would be somebody that Democrats could work with — if it was part of a system where you didn’t have five of the most extreme Republicans blocking important legislation and saying, ‘If you bring that to the floor for a vote, we’ll knock you out of your Speakership”, Sherman said.
Sherman went on to say that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the GOP conference’s choice, would be “among one of the worst Speakers that we could have,” though Jordan would be politically useful for Democrats due to being a “disaster.”
“Unfortunately, so many of the Republicans would rather have the worst possible Speaker than to get a good Speaker working along with Democrats,” Sherman added.
Sherman suggested that Bush could potentially rally enough support from Democrats to prevent the obstruction of critical legislation.
Constitutionally the House can select almost anyone to serve as Speaker so Bush not being a member of Congress wouldn’t disqualify him, although he would have to be nominated by a member of the House.
The House is expected to hold a vote for Speaker of the House later today, although it isn’t clear if anyone has the 217 votes needed.