White House spokesman says voters want to know more about Boehner

The Obama administration defended its recent focus on House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), arguing that voters want to know more about the would-be Speaker.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that President Obama’s decision to personally engage Boehner in recent campaign stumping was part of Democrats’ effort to frame the choice facing voters this fall.

“I think the American people want to know who would be in charge of the House,” Gibbs said Monday morning on NBC. “I think Congressman Boehner would welcome that.”

Boehner is the leader of House Republicans and would likely become Speaker of the House if his party wins back a majority of seats in this fall’s elections.

As a growing number of polls show Republicans within striking distance of accomplishing such a feat, Obama and other Democrats have been targeting and mentioning Boehner more and more. The administration has previously denied elevating the Ohio Republican, or that it’s trying to cast the election as being between Obama and Boehner, despite the increased war of words between the two party leaders.

“This isn’t directed at the individual, it’s directed at the ideas and the values,” Gibbs said. “I think most of all we’ve got to put in front of the American people and independent voters a choice.”

Boehner has previously said that the administration’s focus on him represents the panic over the elections Obama and Democrats must be feeling, with only 50 days remaining until midterm elections in which their party is expected to fare poorly.

Recent polling also suggests voters are unconvinced that a key element of the president’s rhetoric — that electing the GOP, led by Boehner, would mean a return to Bush-era policies — would come to fruition.

Fifty-eight percent of registered voters said in an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll last week that GOP rule would mean new ideas, and not a return to the policies of President George W. Bush.