Great Q about why so many still believe McConnell has magical powers. Mainly, he has spent the months since he took it on the chin on health care re-establishing the narrative that he is a master of the Senate, with some major factors in his favor.
Foremost in his favor is the impact on the judiciary. His gamble on Garland paid off huge, and his years of obstruction left an abnormally large number of vacancies to fill. Those are both huge deals.
But here’s the thing...
But here’s the thing...
When we look back, I think we will be shocked by how little was accomplished *legislatively* in these 2 years of unified GOP control.
Again the judicial impact is huge - but nominations and legislation work on parallel tracks in the Senate and there is no reason Republicans could not have done more.
Compare to 2009-10 under Obama, which was one of the most productive Congresses since the Great Society.
Compare to 2009-10 under Obama, which was one of the most productive Congresses since the Great Society.
Republicans will argue that I’m looking at this through the lens of a Democratic preference for activist government and they are perfectly happy with their judges, their tax cut and their regulatory rollbacks, thank you very much.
But that’s pretty darn close to the minimum you’d expect from two years of unified Republican control of the entire government. And it seems likely that the sense of missed opportunities will increase over time.
To sum up, when you stack what McConnell accomplished starting in January 2017 against the massive scope of the opportunity that stretched out before him at that time, the idea of mastery seems misplaced.
You could make a strong argument that Republicans accomplished less than the minimum. When I sat with Senator Reid on election night 2016 ticking off the things Rs would do, Obamacare repeal was first on the list - and it’s still standing.
They did nothing to expand their appeal and improve their standing with suburban voters. No family leave, no sentencing reform. Just judges and a huge corporate tax cut.
Again - consequential, but hard to argue they made the most of two entire years of unified control.
Again - consequential, but hard to argue they made the most of two entire years of unified control.
Like they did basically nothing legislatively for the entire calendar year of 2018.
Anyway, I’m done - I don’t know what it’s like to be a conservative and maybe they really are perfectly happy with their yield.
Anyway, I’m done - I don’t know what it’s like to be a conservative and maybe they really are perfectly happy with their yield.
