Mitch McConnell’s Exit

National Review Online

Thursday, February 29, 2024

 

An era is ending in the United States Senate.

 

Mitch McConnell announced that he is stepping aside as Republican leader, bringing to a close a historic run as the longest-serving GOP leader.

 

Ever the realist, McConnell made the difficult but correct decision that he was too old to continue in the job at his accustomed level of effectiveness.

 

He will be remembered as one of the most skilled Senate leaders ever. At a time when institutions are often considered merely platforms for personal advancement, McConnell deeply imbibed the history and practices of the Senate and was protective of its norms and traditions. Because he knew so much about his institution, he was able to operate within it with incredible deftness. He won the trust of most of his caucus and was always cognizant of their political needs. Even with narrow majorities, he was able to muster an extraordinary degree of party unity and had a knack for knowing when to cut a deal and when to draw a line. At the top of his game, his Democratic counterparts, Harry Reid and then Chuck Schumer, couldn’t come close to matching him as a political chess player or legislative tactician; sometimes it didn’t even seem fair.

 

McConnell had his share of critics on the right, ever more so as the party became Trumpified. It is true that McConnell could be too cautious at times, present his caucus with unpalatable last-minute deals, and sometimes back the wrong horse in Senate primaries. But, overall, his judgment was sound, and anyone who thinks Republicans could have accomplished more with a more aggressive leader congenial to the bomb throwers now has the cautionary example of the post–Kevin McCarthy House GOP to consider.

 

McConnell never had a big majority to work with, and Barack Obama was the president for a goodly portion of his time as leader. Still, he has impressive accomplishments on his ledger. He was a lonely but farsighted advocate of robustly free political speech and opponent of the execrable McCain-Feingold campaign legislation. He slowed and blocked as much of the Obama agenda as possible. He kept open the Antonin Scalia seat, despite intense pressure to buckle. This gave Donald Trump a key issue in the 2016 election and made possible the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch. He then famously pushed the accelerator on judicial confirmations during Trump’s presidency, leading to a historic raft of new constitutionalist judges on the bench. In addition, he preserved the Senate filibuster, and he has been a mentor to countless conservative legislators and jurists in Kentucky and around the country.

 

Lately, he’s been a vocal proponent of Ukraine funding and of our traditional alliances, pushing back against the isolationist tendency on the right.

 

All in all, it’s a record to be proud of. Senate Republicans would be wise to pick a successor who is also experienced and realistic, and avoid, at all costs, the dysfunction of the House. Whoever comes next will have the burden of filling the shoes of a man who deserves to be considered one of the great lions of the Senate.