While there are awards for “Politician of the Year” outside the United States, there is no U.S. version. But if there were, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should win it. He was dealt a tough political hand in 2021 and played it very well.
Just consider the challenges McConnell faced at the beginning of the year. Republicans are in the minority, so McConnell doesn’t officially control the Senate agenda. The mainstream media like to criticize him because he has often quashed their desire to see the progressive wish-list enacted.
Former President Trump frequently berates McConnell and has been calling on Republican senators to oust him as their leader — a request those senators, who know how effective McConnell is, decided to ignore.
And recently, several conservative talking heads have criticized McConnell because they think he caved to Democrats by supporting Biden’s infrastructure bill and allowing the federal government’s debt ceiling to rise.
So, let’s start with the debt ceiling. When I talk to conservative critics of the debt ceiling increase, they recognize that Republicans usually get blamed for government shutdowns more than Democrats, including much more negative press.
