Legislating and Governing: Not the Same Thing

A couple weeks ago I wrote (http://uberthoughtsusa.blogspot.com/2014/10/be-careful-for-what-you-ask.html) "on the come", that if the Republicans were to take the Senate back, they needed to have a solid plan for what to do for two years.  By "solid plan", I meant not only priorities as far as which, of the 350 or so bills now rotting on Harry Reid's desk, to pass first.  I also meant to get out in front of the narrative on those bills and their underlying issues, taking the issues to the public.

That is more than "legislating", and it is a bit different from "governing".  But the part of legislating that an opposition party does, when it has the majority, has a PR aspect to it as well.  And for that, the newly-majority Republicans need to rethink something serious.

The House leader is, of course, the Speaker, John Boehner of Ohio, while the Senate Republican side is currently led by its Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who just won reelection.  They were each elected to lead a different situation; Boehner to crank out bills that would die in the Senate anyway, and McConnell to try to ... well, you can't do much when the Majority Leader puts nothing up for a vote.

That was then, and this is now.  It is clear that different leadership is needed in both Houses, since the needs are different.  It is possible that different leaders are needed to provide that different leadership.  I'm not saying that it is mandatory; people can actually lead differently depending on the situation.  In fact, I was really impressed by the acceptance speech that McConnell gave last night, if he were planning to lead the way he spoke.

But if I were in charge, I would be trying to get some different leadership as Speaker and Majority Leader, and that could certainly mean two different leaders, certainly as Speaker.  Why?  Because the needs are different.  The Republicans have two years to develop, execute and promote an agenda, even in the face of a terribly leftist press.  They need to get their faces out in public talking about their legislative activity, and I'm not sure that Boehner's perpetual tan and McConnell's perpetual lack of tan are what are needed.  And to tell you the truth, the last thing the Republicans need is a chain-smoking Speaker and a Majority Leader from a tobacco state.

There are 52 senators and maybe 250 congressmen and congresswomen.  Some of them are remarkably telegenic and articulate, and can answer reporters' questions glibly and pointedly.  If they're not going to let a couple of those actually lead the caucuses, then put them in leadership positions and get them out on the news to speak the story.

You know, despite everyone thinking the Democrats' "war on women" was a winning strategy because the Republicans didn't have anyone out front to refute it and the press wouldn't fact-check it, it didn't work.  Mia Love won the House seat in Utah.  Mark Uterus Udall lost hugely in Colorado campaigning on nothing else.  Wendy Davis was crushed in Texas on that platform.  Joni Ernst won big in Iowa.  What happens if the Republicans actually have a really articulate Speaker or Majority Leader (or even Whip or Chief Whatever or Lord High Everything Else) who can speak the agenda?

The mind boggles.

Copyright 2014 by Robert Sutton