A Grudging Acknowledgement to the Only Adult in the Room.

I have oftentimes been a very vocal critic of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.  While professing a personal devotion to “Senate Traditions”, I believe he has chosen his battles in a curious fashion over his long Senate tenure; a pattern that does not seem to jibe completely with Senate tradition.  I have also found it curious how he chooses when and where to exert his not insignificant influence when policy debates are in vogue.  That might very well result from him being an experienced, studied, accomplished legislative scholar who knows how to acquire power and how to effectively use it and me being an obscure internet blogger.  But on this day, when the Senate Republicans have determined to return the Senate to normal rules of order by choosing to execute the so-called nuclear option, I see Senator McConnell assuming the role as the only adult in the room.  While essentially everyone in WDC (regardless of political standing) seems to be embracing the circus surrounding President Trump and his Media Wars, Senator McConnell has been conspicuous by his absence.  He is the big dog that has not barked. 

While he is unquestionably one of the most powerful men in our government today, he has chosen to keep his own counsel.  He does not court the media; instead appearing only on those occasions when events seem to demand the opinion of the Senate Majority Leader.  Some might say that reality itself has rendered McConnell a low profile player; but that would be a large mistake.  Mitch McConnell is not a flashy, enigmatic legislator and has seldom sought the spotlight.  While it is true that when the challenges came close to his personal set of principles, he has risen up and gone public in a big way; his typical strategy is one of patience, deliberation, and a healthy respect for the letting things play out in a natural kind of way. 

Anyone familiar with his political career would readily acknowledge that he is not one to be trifled with when it comes to campaign etiquette.  He has shown no reluctance to competing at any level necessary to win; even though he oftentimes allows his opponent to determine what that level might be.  I have witnessed his effective ruthlessness when primary-challenged and general election-challenged here in Kentucky.  When immersed in heated political conflict, or when he chooses of his own volition that it is necessary, he can morph from the bespectacled man standing to the side to an acid-tongued warrior that knows no bounds to heaping sarcasm and ridicule on his rival.  There has always been fire in his belly when he chose to ignite it; perhaps his ascending position in the U.S. Senate has persuaded him to call on it more sparingly than in the past.  Experience has taught him that our Government runs in large part through its Senate; and he who controls that Senate has significant influence on government.

While McConnell was clearly not an early or even eventual energetic Trump supporter, he nonetheless always came up with the right words when questioned about The Donald, his Administration, and his Agenda. Exhibiting a quiet confidence borne of strength and power (some might call this arrogance), McConnell has remained relatively quiet while the political universe has debated New Travel Vetting Policies, ACA Repeal/Replace, Trump Campaign/Russia Collusion, and Obama Administration Political Spying.  When these subjects were broached with the Senate Majority Leader, he assumed a low-key response by acknowledging the regular order of the Senate and how the appropriate Investigative Committee processes work.  How refreshing is it to hear someone on either political side simply stand up straight, unflinchingly state the obvious, and say… “Let’s see how it plays out”? 

But when the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch came up, that old fire from down under began to heat up.  McConnell knows first–hand how the Senate Democrats mortgaged the integrity of the “advise and consent” clause for some short-term gains back in the early 2000’s. Although both parties have dipped their feet into this cesspool of hypocrisy, it is clearly the Democrats who have pioneered the political hijacking of the Senate role in Presidential appointments.  There has been a painful, shameful, and inexorable roll towards the Supreme Court Nominee nuclear option and as sad as it is to acknowledge the futile surrender that it represents; it is a welcome occurrence that we can put the charade behind us.  Once the nomination process itself became more important than the nominee, it was damn sure time to change things around. 

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As one who has been a life-long disciple of Senate tradition, it cannot have been an easy decision for McConnell to lead the return back to majority rule on Supreme Court nominees.  He knows far better than most that this rule change will come around to work against his party in future years and that any complaints pointed its way at that time will be hollow and specious.  The fact that it is Senator Mitch McConnell (he the long-time advocate for Senate rules of order) who has led the ignition of the nuclear option, speaks volumes to the fact that it was absolutely necessary.  It is a tragedy that the Supreme Court has become so politicized and is now considered by most voters as, at a minimum, a quasi-partisan body.  But if that is the fact, then it is also the fact that the best way to determine that body’s composition is through the ballot box.  And if we embrace that logic; then the simple majority rule for approving Supreme Court nominees is entirely appropriate and proper.