I like Allen West, don’t get me wrong, but he cannot even get re-elected. Why should he be elevated to Speaker?
If speaker need not be a member, with emphasis on “IF”, then he/she need not ever have run for office either. West is batting .500 in running for the house (and had to deal with negative drag from the GOP-e in his strikeout).
That said...
Consider Article 1 sec 2 and 3:
In sec 3, the Senate leader is NOT a member:
“The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate”
In sec 2, it would appear to implicitly say that the speaker need not be a member. By “other officers”, does that mean committee chairs (ie, members), or does it refer to the parliamentarian, Sargent at arms, etc (ie, not members)? it states:
“The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and OTHER OFFICERS;”