E.L.D. Cornerstone.  Life in words & pictures

April 27, 2015

It has become a political rite of spring. For the second year in a row, House Speaker John Boehner has released a video of himself with his lawnmower. 

Titled "Lawn Care 101," this year's clip, features Boehner going to his local hardware store to pick up a newly-sharpened blade for his Toro mower. 

"This is how it's supposed to be," Boehner says while running his thumb across the blades sharp edge. "That cuts grass, it doesn't tear it." 

Back home, the Speaker is seen affixing the new blade, and adding oil to the mower, before the message, "Happy Spring" appears on the screen. 

A press release accompanying the video touts the Speaker as someone who “still irons his own shirts, washes his own dishes, and yes … cuts his own grass.”

Boehner has often used his social media channels to promote the notion that he's a regular guy who does regular things when he's not overseeing the business of the House of Representatives. A video the Speaker cut during his 2014 re- election campaign was even titled "Regular Guy."

"When it's all said and done, I'm just a regular guy who has been given a chance to do a big job," Boehner says in the spot. 

To that effect, the lawn mower has been utilized two years in a row.  

During a 2014 appearance on the Tonight Show, Boehner told then-host Jay Leno that he wasn't interested in running for president, in part, because he wouldn't want it to interfere with his lawn mowing.

"I like to cut my own grass," Boehner said. "You know, I do drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. And I'm not giving that up to be the President of the United States."