“He’s got a very difficult job. He’s got a very unruly freshman Republican caucus made up of a lot of tea party members who have openly rebelled against speaker Boehner’s leadership at times, and he’s had quite a time trying to keep them in place.”`

Cohen says a major part of any speaker’s job is to broker deals with the leadership of the Senate and the president, regardless of which party is in control.

Cohen explains what John Boehner needs to do in 2012 Other options:  Windows Media /  MP3 Download (0:18)

“If he’s able to control his caucus going into this election year, which of course is a very, very difficult challenge, he can survive as speaker. But if this kind of thing continues, there are going to be a lot of questions raised as to whether or not he’s going to get a significant challenge from someone like Eric Cantor.”

Cantor is the House majority leader. The Virginia congressman publicly broke ranks with Speaker Boehner during the debt ceiling fight this summer. Cohen says Cantor has been eyeing the speaker’s gavel for a long time.