President Obama Probably Misses John Boehner Already

By Jen Kirby

A guy from Ohio named John, who used to be Speaker of the House of Representatives, is wrapping up his government-service farewell tour this week.

Soon-to-be-regular-dude John Boehner'sofficial good-bye and his exit interviews have been tinged with nostalgia, but considering he's likened his job as Speaker to that of agarbage man or toy monkey, he's probably pretty happy to finally hang up his spurs. But there's one person that might be kind of broken up about it: President Obama.

In an interview with Fox News that aired Friday, Boehner discussed working with President Obama, who was, pretty frequently, at odds with the Republican-led House. Nevertheless, "the president and I have a good relationship," Boehner said. "We have disagreements over all kinds of issues. But we have a good relationship because I think it's essential that the leaders be able to work with each other, have a relationship, build some trust, so that we can do the nation's business."

Boehner then mentioned a "nice conversation" the two frenemies had the day Boehner announced he was retiring. Obama called him upon hearing the news, and "at one point he said, 'Boehner, man, I'm going to miss you.'"

"Yes, you are Mr. President," Boehner replied, and then for apparent dramatic effect added: "Yes, you are."

President Obama won't have too much time to ruminate over Boehner's prophecy, as he's already got to start figuring out how to work with his successor, Paul D. Ryan. So far the White House sounds hopefully optimistic about its prospects of working with Ryan, despite very public differences the president has had with the Wisconsin congressman and former GOP vice-presidential candidate over the Ryan budget plan. "He’s somebody who is willing to do his homework, and that is worthy of some respect,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. “That doesn’t in any way minimize the significance differences between the two of them.”

Yet things aren't off to the best start. Apparently a Ryan spokesperson has already come out and said the new Speaker does not like to golf — a sport over which the president and Boehner tried to work out their differences — and prefers hunting. Boehner, though, will be hitting up the links either way.