The other day I read a Washington Post political blog which reminded me of something I’ve been trying to ignore—I’m on the same side as House Minority leader John Boehner of Ohio. Citing a column I wrote at the end of 2009, the Post listed me as one of the “opinion writers, members of Congress, and other high-profile politicos who, like Boehner, have called for the treasury secretary to leave his post or for President Obama to fire him.” Him being Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Seeing myself on that list, right after Rudy Giuliani, made me frantically reconsider my position. Surely Geithner can’t be all that bad? In other words, I can’t really be agreeing with John Boehner, can I?

Well, I thought it over, and I had to admit defeat. My feeling is the same. I agree with Boehner. Geithner and the entire Obama economic team, from Larry Summers on down, have got to go. The need is as great now as ever. Dick Grasso, the former New York Stock Exchange CEO, told Bloomberg TV that Geithner needs to be surrounded by experienced, competent people. I say that he needs to be replaced by somebody experienced and competent.

The Obama administration has spent billions on bailouts and economic stimuli. They’ve pushed through Congress a financial regulatory overhaul that’s so weak it should really be called an “underhaul.” And what have we got for all that perspiration and all those greenbacks? An economy that is not in a recovery but in a kind of prolonged sag, with home sales falling when not encouraged by federal bribery, banks not lending to small business and consumers, and a stock market that keeps reaching new lows. I said it before, and I repeat: Fire Tim Geithner!

OK, I got that out of my system. But there’s still a loose end that needs to be tied up, and it has to do John Boehner. As long as we’re firing people, let’s be sure to add him to the list.

While nobody can seriously dispute that the Obama team has failed to adequately revive the economy, the only person whose economic and regulatory policies have been even more inept is the distinguished gentleman from Ohio. I know, he’s from a safe seat, so it’s not as if his job is actually in jeopardy. And that’s precisely the problem. The voters of his district may want to think about the kind of economic positions that the House minority leader has been advancing. Here’s a sampling:

He fought financial reform. Anyone in the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio who has a bank account or a credit card, or a share or two of stock in a depressed IRA or Keogh plan, needs to think hard about a speech that Boehner gave to a banking convention in March. Boehner told the bankers that they had to stand up tall and fight banking reform. "Don't let those little punk staffers take advantage of you, and stand up for yourselves," he told them. If Boehner had his way, the flyspeck of a financial regulation bill that emerged from the congressional meat grinder would have been no financial regulation bill at all.

He opposed student-loan reform. Boehner fought against reform of the student loans that plunge thousands of young people into poverty every year. The reason is that he cares more about bankers than their customers. The proposal would “eliminate every bank in the country and every student-loan lender,” he said back in March, to which many a recent college graduate might cheerfully respond, “So what?”

He’s opposed to increasing shareholder rights. Boehner has consistently opposed the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act and other legislation that would have required companies to take a separate shareholder vote on executive compensation.

He’s willing to let the economy drop into the commode. Boehner has opposed economic stimulus packages, while at the same opposing modifying bankruptcy rules to give a break to homeowners who’s houses were being taken by banks. A full analysis of his record can be found here.

As you can see, Boehner has a track record that makes Tim Geithner and Larry Summers seem like geniuses by comparison. He has worked hard at it, and his constituents, nevertheless, have been cheerfully reelecting him since he first darkened the doors of Capitol Hill in 1991.

President Obama can be rightly criticized for sticking with his economic appointments like glue, despite repeated and convincing evidence that they’re just no good. But when it comes to stubborn tolerance of incompetence, he can’t hold a candle to the voters of Ohio’s Eighth District.