InthetwomonthssinceRepublicansreclaimedtheHouse,JohnBoehnerhasactedthehumble

statesman.Andsoitwasonthedayofhiscoronation.WhenDemocraticleaderNancyPelosi

bequeathedtoBoehnerhisgavel(aparticularlyjumbo-sizeone,sheremarked),thenewSpeaker

reminded colleagues that the chamber was merely on loan. "This is the people's House," Boehner said.

"It's about them, not us." But the people's House also played host to Republican political theater, at least

for the 112th Congress's opening acts. In its first week, the GOP planned to showcase its fealty to the

framers by reading aloud all 4,543 words of the Constitution and send a symbolic repeal of the health

care reform law to die in a Democratic-controlled Senate. At some point, this pageantry must give way to

theslogofdividedgovernment.Thenewmajorityhasplentyofboxestocheck.Boehnerwilltryto

spearhead efforts to slash spending and spur economic growth, navigate a looming showdown on the

federal debt ceiling and convince Tea Partyers and truculent freshmen that compromise isn't capitulation.

If he can do all that, the people just may ask him to stay.