Republicans off to a rough and divisive start to 2015

Tuesday was like a first day of school in Washington as the 114th Congress was sworn in, and no doubt Speaker John Boehner was wishing he could give some of his Republican members a detention or send them to the principal's office.

Twenty-five of them voted against him when it came time to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a role he's held since 2011. The Ohio congressman secured his third term in the job, but the drama of the dissenters drove the narrative of the day and it was not the story many Republicans wanted to hear. This is not how they, or Boehner in particular, wanted to start off 2015.

The Republicans won big in November's midterm elections, wrestling control of the Senate away from the Democrats and picking up a bigger majority in the House. But instead of riding into Washington on that victorious wave on Tuesday and having their new power on Capitol Hill be the focus of attention, Republicans were dealing with a familiar problem infighting.

Those seeking and hoping for a fresh start for the party are disappointed that the party isn't starting the new year with a united front.

"The sad thing is it distracts from what our message ought to be," Representative Tom Cole said on CNN about those who wanted to oust Boehner. "We ought to be talking about the Republican agenda instead, on the opening day of a new Republican Congress, we've got Republicans at odds and that's unfortunate. It steps on the story and doesn't accomplish anything productive."

Some of Boehner'scritics said they were just doing what their constituents and the American people wanted them to do, arguing there is a desire for a change in leadership and that the status quo isn't working. Boehner doesn't give members enough input and has been too weak in dealing with President Barack Obama, they complain.

Republican leaders eager to govern

They didn't seem concerned about divisions in their party causing embarrassment. "If we can invoke that change, the American people will rally behind the Republican Party," Representative Ted Yoho from Florida, one of Boehner's challengers, said ahead of the vote.

He and the anti-Boehner camp didn't get the change they were looking for, but their campaign was successful in threatening party efforts to show they are strong, united, and ready to govern leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

The party has been bruised by internal revolts from the Tea Party faction and extreme right-wing conservatives in the last few years. Some more establishment Republicans want to give their public image a makeover so the party has broader appeal to more Americans in order to get the White House back in 2016.

Republicans took the blame for the government shutdown in 2013, for example, and instead of blocking government from functioning they need to show they can be the ones to get things done in D.C. Americans are sick of gridlock and Republican leaders are aware that they can't waste the opportunity they have now with control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to show they can govern.

But the Republicans are still up against a Democrat in the White House who can veto whatever bills they send him. If legislation is going to get passed in the next two years, it's going to require co-operation between the two parties.

There are Republicans who would rather eat glass than work with Barack Obama, ones who are still intent on repealing his signature health-care law, for example, and who don't want their leadership to negotiate with the president. This could cause divisions in the months ahead.

Whole party support expected on most issues

Boehner and Mitch McConnell, the new majority Senate leader, are going to have to tame any discord, rein in the rebels and get members behind their agenda.

McConnell told the Washington Post in a report published Sunday that he knows they won't get unanimous support on all issues but he expects it on "most."

He also said that he knows what his party has to do over the next two years in order to add a Republican president to a Republican Congress: not be scary.

"There would be nothing frightening about adding a Republican president to that governing majority," McConnell said. "I think that's the single best thing we can do, is to not mess up the playing field, if you will, for whoever the nominee ultimately is."

A challenge to Boehner's leadership wasn't the only issue causing division as Republicans returned to Washington. Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, the third-ranking leader in the House, is in hot water for speaking to a white supremacist group more than a decade ago. News of the speech broke in recent weeks, Scalise apologized, and Republicans have been forced to stand by him or call for his resignation as party whip.

Boehner has stood by Scalise, which has rankled some members who think the matter will damage Republican efforts to gain more racially diverse supporters.

Despite the troubling start to 2015, Boehner sounded optimistic as he made his acceptance speech Tuesday, saying it's possible for the gridlock to be broken in Washington. He encouraged members of both parties to make this a productive session of Congress, but said he knows that won't always be "tidy."

"As Speaker, all I ask and frankly expect is that we disagree without being disagreeable," said Boehner. He didn't specify whether that request was aimed only at Democrats or at his own party too.