John Boehner jabs Obama: Bush ‘would have punched [Putin] in the nose’

If George W. Bush were still president, and not President Obama, Russia’s leading man Vladimir Putin would be recovering from a bloody nose — so said Speaker John Boehner, commenting on the differences between the two White House leaders.

“Does anybody think that Vladimir Putin would have gone into Crimea had George W. Bush been president of the United States? No,” Mr. Boehner said during a campaign trail speech in Iowa and before a Republican crowd, CNN reported. “Even Putin is smart enough to know that Bush would have punched him in the nose in about 10 seconds.”

Mr. Boehner is capitalizing on the recent trend of Democrats to flee Mr. Obama on the campaign trail in the face of growing unhappiness about his leadership abilities — particularly with the U.S. response to the Islamic State. Mr. Obama’s favorability rating among American voters just hit an all-time low of 40 percent.