Gingrich quits as US Speaker

A meeting to elect the Speaker is due on November 18. Since the Republicans hold a majority, albeit a reduced one, it was on the cards that Gingrich would go in for a third two-year term as Speaker.

But several Republican lawmakers pounced on him for leading the Grand Old Party to a reduced majority and demanded his skin. Some went on TV and announced their intention to challenge him for the post.

Gingrich backed downafter the rebellion threatened to take alarming proportions, fearing that such bloodletting would further damage the already wounded party. “The ones you see on TV are hateful. I am willing to lead, but I won’t allow cannibalism,” he was quoted as telling colleagues in a widely publicised conference call.

This was the not the way it was supposed to happen. Two weeks ago, the writing on the wall suggested a splendid Republican triumph which would possibly spell finis to President Clinton.

But in the end, Clinton, who has outfoxed, outmanoeuvered and outflanked Gingrich in their six-year adversarial relationship, remains in the White House while running the Speaker out of the Capitol.

Gingrich, a Republican backbencher all through the 1980s, became Speaker in 1992 after he led the GOP to a spectacular win on the basis of his Contract with America, a ten-point plan which promised to change the face of the nation with effective legislation. It was the first time in 40 years that Republicans wrestedcontrol of the House.

But as Speaker, Gingrich turned out to be an immensely controversial and partisan figure, although he was acknowledged as a brilliant thinker with a fine legislative mind. A one-time college professor, he led the fulfillment of most of the Contract with America but after finishing that agenda, he appeared to lose direction and momentum as the Democrats began to attack his personality.

Democrats portrayed him as a meanspirited politician who was confrontational and petulant. One oft-quoted story centered around how he extracted a divorce settlement from a wife who was dying of cancer. Another time, he was said to have complained about being made to sit in the back of Air Force One (the President’s place) on a trip to Israel for Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral.

Typically one New York tabloid bannered the story `Crybaby!’. Such negative portrayal hurt his image. In polls last year, he was rated one of the most unpopular politicians in the United States. More recently he pledged to change hisstyle and tone down his rhetoric. He went on a diet, lost weight and wrote a book called `Lessons Learnt the Hard Way.’

It did not help. Although he led the GOP to a majority in last week’s election — the first time in 70 years the party has won a majority for the third successive term — he was held responsible for whittling down GOP strength from 267 in 1992 to 228 and now 223, in successive elections.Lawmakers who are as sharp-tongued as he is pounced on him and virtually forced him from office. One legislator likened last week’s election results to “hitting an iceberg,” and asked “whether we retain the crew of the Titanic or look for some new leadership.”

Half a dozen aspirants surfaced overnight for the Speaker’s post. Among them Bob Livingstone, a Louisiana Congressman who is an early and strong favourite.

Gingrich had no direct dealings with India. But the 100-strong India Caucus in the House had his tacit blessing and the Indian community in his home state of Georgia had cultivated himextensively.