The recent successful debt ceiling negotiations by Kevin McCarthy have led to a reassessment of him. Matthew Continetti of The Washington Free Beacon notes that McCarthy’s “superpower is his desire to be speaker — he likes and wants his job”. While this may seem like an obvious quality for a House Speaker, it is not always the case. Too often, ambitious House members and senators treat their positions as places to stand and be seen, rather than as roles to inhabit and opportunities to serve, leading to a “platform” mentality that has taken hold of Congress.
This tendency can be seen in various forms on the Republican side, such as Newt Gingrich’s yearning to be a Great Man of History, Ted Cruz’s grandstanding in the Obama years, and the emergence of Trump-era performance artists like Marjorie Taylor Greene. However, McCarthy has found a different way of dealing with it by inviting some of the bomb throwers into the legislative process, turning them from platform-seekers into legislators by giving them a stake in governance. This approach has garnered crucial support from figures like Greene and Thomas Massie, the quirky Kentucky libertarian.
The Biden era has been good for institutionalism generally, as the president seems to understand and appreciate the nature of his office and is comfortable with quiet negotiation on any reasonable grounds. This is crucial in keeping the other side invested in a deal. Additionally, the absence of sweeping maximalism, such as that brought to the debt-ceiling negotiations under Obama by Cruz, has created a healthier environment for negotiation.
The continued presence of Donald Trump as the G.O.P.’s personality-in-chief is a reason for the diminishment of Cruz-like grandstanders. No senator can reasonably aspire to his eminence, and so there is more benefit to legislative normalcy for ambitious Republicans, and less temptation towards the platform mentality, than there would be if Trump’s part were open for the taking. In the end, it seems that McCarthy may be happy in his job for much longer than expected, as his enthusiasm for the actual vote-counting and handholding work has kept him invested in the role of House Speaker.
