Mitch McConnell is a master of his
craft. As a matter of fact he frequently gets away with stuff that
seems outrageous through political cunning and an intimate knowledge
of exactly how the Senate works. He is an expert at using some of
the arcane rules of the Senate to guide his programs through a maze
of procedure or how to use that maze to trap other bills in limbo
forever. It has taken him some 30 years to reach the pinnacle of
power from which he now exercises control over legislation that can
and will affect our nation for a half century to come.
His uncanny sense of what the public
will tolerate has allowed him to proceed through election after
election without ever facing a serious chance of losing. He knows
when to attack and he knows when to ignore and has defied all
predictions of his political demise and, from all indications, may
ride to his eternal reward directly from the steps of the Senate.
He reached the position of Minority
Leader of his Republican Party in 2007 and in 2016 rose to Majority
Leader. In his position of Minority Leader he led a program of
devout opposition to anything that President Obama or the Democratic
Party proposed regardless of the propriety or the well-being of the
nation. He promised upon President Obama's election to do whatever
it would take to make sure that he was an one term President. He did
fail at that but he led the charge of obstructionism and the rise of
the right wing fringe to a victory for Donald Trump in 2016. No
doubt he would have preferred any other GOP candidate that could have
won and who would have been instilled with Republican dogma but he
has shown a flexibility to use what is given to outlast and then
defeat his opponents that would unseat him.
His self-serving obstruction prevented
any Republicans from crossing the aisle to strike a deal of
compromise with the Affordable Care Act even after many concessions
were made to increase the chances of a bipartisan effort. He
understood that even defeat on this matter would lead to his personal
agenda being afforded a chance to eventually win out. Consequently
the Affordable Care Act was passed without any Republican votes and
McConnell led the campaign that used it as the primary tool for
attacking the Democrats running for office. A shameful tactic that
prevented bipartisan legislation that could have gone a great
distance to lessening the divide that plagues our country. He forced
almost all legislation to require a 60 vote majority by threatening
filibuster and by doing so prevented our country from beginning an
infrastructure program that would have brought the nation out of
recession years sooner. He realized, correctly, that the success of
such a program would cement Democratic victories and prevent his rise
to the apex of power. Now that the GOP holds the majority he wants
to cut Social Services to fund an infrastructure bill but you can bet
it will be one that funnels public funds into private corporations.
The hypocrisy is not lost on many but he has calculated that the
public's memory is far too short and that the voter is always
amenable to promises of prosperity.
Perhaps the most ignominious act of all
was his refusal to allow President Obama's nominee to replace Justice
Scalia to even be allowed the dignity of a debate and vote on the
Senate floor. In the past it has been considered a prerogative of
the President to make nominations and, if there is no serious
malfeasance found, to vote on the nominee. McConnell steadfastly
stood against the welfare of the nation and promoted partisan
behavior to a fever pitch in his refusal to even allow the nominee to
be debated, much less voted on.
With the election of Donald Trump it
seemed that McConnell had lost his mojo. The new gang in the White
House led by former Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon seemed to have
the bosses ear and the will to appeal to the most derogatory elements
of our people to instigate a rebellion that would place in power a
publicly elected government approaching the classic definitions of
fascism.
Bannon was not only banished from the
White House but also from his power base at Breitbart while McConnell
shepherded the Great Tax Give Away of 2017 through not only the
Senate but the House of Representatives and put it on the President's
desk for his signature.
A day hadn't passed before the GOP was
talking about entitlement reform. Entitlements, you know, that
pittance that you are given, hopefully before you die, to live out
your final years, nevermind that you paid taxes to support it, Social
Security and Medicare. Well, the money has to come from somewhere
and the big money is in Social Services and Military and everyone
knows that we have to fight wars all over the world to keep our
country safe from the heathen horde.
Make no mistake about it. It has
always been the goal of the GOP to eliminate Social Security and
With the tax giveaway and its
concessions a large part of the American budget income was eliminated
which means that the money to replace it has to come from somewhere.
They wanted to get the money by repealing the Affordable Care Act but
the people wouldn't allow it and now they want to begin the
infrastructure plan but where is the money to come from? Well, what
else is left?
McConnell is near to achieving the Holy
Grail for Republicans. My Take is that he just might get there.
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