Speaker McCarthy Gerry OShea
Kevin McCarthy,
the Republican leader in the House of Representatives and a very ambitious man,
sees himself on the cusp of a major positive
career move. He wants Nancy Pelosi’s job as Speaker, and the current
betting suggests strongly that he will take over from her after the mid-term
elections in November.
Recent voting for governor in Virginia and New
Jersey seems to confirm that people are moving away from the Democratic Party,
dissatisfied with rising prices for utility bills as well as in the supermarkets
and gas stations.
More than
that, the mid-term elections, following compelling past precedents, will likely
show a significant swing away from the party in the White House. And the Pelosi
Democrats are already working with a tight lead that only allows a slight
slippage before losing their majority.
Republicans in some states have gerrymandered
the constituency boundaries for their own electoral benefit. One independent
expert wrote recently that the new revisions on their own are likely to provide
a Republican majority in November.
Mr. McCarthy,
unlike Paul Ryan whom he replaced, is not a conservative ideologue. Apart from
a detestation for what he calls socialism, he is not associated with a strong
commitment to any particular policy position. He has shown that he is adept at rolling
with the punches as he pursues his overweening goal of winning the Speaker’s
gavel.
Marjorie
Taylor-Greene, who would be at home in the wildest corner of Cloud Cuckoo Land,
disputes the easy passage to power by McCarthy, asserting that he may be
opposed within the caucus for the top job. Her friend, Congressman Jim Jordan
from Ohio, a popular and loquacious avatar of all far-right causes, is being mentioned
as an alternative.
And former
Congressman Mark Meadows, who served as President Trump’s chief of staff, points
out that the position doesn’t have to go to a member of congress, raising the
prospect of promoting Trump to be the next leader of the House.
Mr. McCarthy
has his finger in the air at all times and feels that his path to the top has
to include kowtowing to the far right of his party. At the beginning of 2021
after Marjorie Greene advocated violence against Speaker Pelosi and Barack
Obama while claiming that Hilary Clinton sliced a child’s face, he described
her wild emanations as “deeply disturbing.”
However, just
recently, he promised publicly to restore and improve her committee assignments
when he wields the gavel after the elections, clearly indicating that Marjorie will
be an important part of his team and her unstable ruminations will be valued.
He showed
the same lack of conviction after the January riots in the Capitol. At first,
he condemned the insurrection unambiguously and pointed the finger of blame at President
Trump. However, after hearing different perspectives from some members of his
caucus, he trooped off like a mendicant to Mar-a-Lago to show the world his
obeisance to the former President.
Leader McCarthy’s recent eight-and-a-half-hour
rant before the Build Back Better Bill passed in the House undoubtedly impressed
many conservatives. This vitriolic outpouring, denouncing as socialist the
progressive terms of the legislation, drew praise from Trump, who went a step
further than his acolyte by dubbing the Democratic legislation as “communism.”
McCarthy is
probably correct that he can’t hope to achieve his all-consuming goal of
winning the speakership without Mr. Trump’s benediction, but working with such
a capricious ally will keep him awake at night. Senator McConnell, the Republican
leader in the senate, believes - with good reason - that Trump cost him at
least one of the two senate seats in Georgia and, consequently, the leadership
of the upper house.
Now the former president is calling McConnell
an old crow, a loser who should be ousted from his leadership job. Kevin must
wonder what bird he will be compared to by the volatile Mr. Trump if things
don’t work out to his satisfaction.
Mr. McCarthy
is all-in with the former president, which means he will have no choice but to
affirm some of the absurd positions that Mr. Trump holds. For instance, he still
claims that he won the presidential election. McCarthy has dithered on this
outrageous contention, but many members of his caucus believe it.
Some of them further assert that the January 6
pillaging of the Capitol must be seen in the context of patriots angrily
demanding fair play after the “stolen election.” Kevin knows that this qualifies
as bunkum but he dares not say so publicly.
Recently, Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona lampooned
Congresswoman Andrea Ocasio-Cortez while slashing her on a video and included
President Biden in the virtual carnage. He claimed that it was all done in a
jocose spirit and Leader McCarthy shamelessly defended this despicable behavior
on the floor of the House. He impressed his hardliners, but what does the rest
of the country think about this puerile performance.
Donald Trump
is completely in the dark about climate change. He claims that it is a hoax.
Does Kevin McCarthy agree? He can’t contradict the boss on any important issue,
so it is very unlikely that he will have anything to say about this massive
problem which more and more people see as crucial for the continuation of human
life on the planet.
Saving the
environment is a litmus test for young voters. They turned out in big numbers
to support Joe Biden’s election to the White House. Can Kevin McCarthy’s party
win an election while claiming that global warming is a non-problem, unworthy
of the electorate’s attention?
The aspiring
Speaker has voted against parental leave for families when a new baby arrives.
Democrats feel that parents should have at least one month off work with pay to
take care of the newborn. Will he continue to call this socialism? Will the
American people settle for that?
The same
question applies to the Democratic proposal to provide coverage for dentures,
hearing aids and eyeglasses for seniors. Mr. McCarthy has taken a clear stand
by voting against these benefits. More nanny-state socialism, he argues, that
runs up the deficit.
He will be reminded again and again by Democrats
like the exuberant and sharp Sean Patrick Moloney, who leads the House Democratic
campaign, that in the last Trump budget Kevin McCarthy voted for close to two
trillion in tax breaks for the wealthy - all of which is now part of the national
debt for future generations to worry about. Leaving bills for one’s children
and grandchildren to pay qualifies as the very antithesis of conservatism.
Moloney is already on the rooftop asking
Republicans why they have no problem with this kind of socialism while raging
against a few billion to provide quality dentures or hearing aids for retirees.
The political polls look great for Kevin
McCarthy; he has the wind at his back right now. However, he is dancing with hardliners
including loudmouths like Boebert from Colorado, Gaetz from Florida, Gosar from
Arizona and the inevitable Greene from Georgia. They are the Republican
leader’s wild bedfellows and Sean Patrick will hope that they will be heard frequently
expatiating about their political beliefs.
Mr. McCarthy is riding a tiger but, in
accordance with the ancient wisdom, he must move very gingerly or he may well
end up inside the animal.
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