Gingrich: Boehner 'Avoiding Most of My Mistakes'

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is giving Speaker-designate John Boehner high marks. So far, Boehner is "avoiding most of my mistakes," Gingrich said Sunday, according to The Hill. Gingrich was swept in as speaker after the Republican wave of 1994 put the GOP back in the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years.

On "Fox News Sunday," Gingrich said Boehner has avoided the same mistakes he made during the transition period in 1993.

"I was too aggressive in public relations," he said. "I was too willing to lead with my chin in debating with the president, which I thought was essential to fill a vacuum at the time."

Gingrich said it's not the role Boehner needs to fill as House Speaker.

"I think what Boehner should do is decide what the voters who led to a landslide, the biggest shift in House power since 1948 — what is it they really want? What is it he owes them as a legitimate part of a free society? And he ought to calmly and methodically get that done," Gingrich said.