Shameless, AKA Mitch McConnell

In early 2009, just after Barack Obama became president and the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress, we found out what a small man then-Senate Minority Mitch McConnell is. That’s a reality his recent laughable comments claiming Republicans are responsible for the improving economy only confirms.

Back in 2009, far from congratulating a man that had just won a ringing endorsement from the American people by scoring a sweeping, historic victory against all odds, McConnell declared the GOP’s top priority for the next four years would be ensuring Obama would be a one-term president.

The French invented the term noblesse oblige. in the United States, many losing candidates have practiced it even after bitter campaigns and crushing defeats. But to feel obliged to act with grace toward he who has defeated you, you must have at least one noble bone in your body. McConnell evidently lacks that. For if there ever was a time to strike a cordial, conciliatory, cooperative tone, 2009 was it.

The nation then was mired in the worst economic crisis since the Depression For your first priority to be to make Obama a one-termer is mean-spirited. To put that at the top of your list rather than rescuing the people from economic ruin is positively perverse. To try to hurt the president politically by doing everything in your power to stand in the way of policies necessary for a vigorous recovery amounts to seeking partisan gain at the cost of prolonging the misery of tens of millions of Americans. For that, the most apt word is unconscionable.

The 2009 decision by McConnell and company to spite Obama rather work with him to help fix the economy had tragic consequences. Many people saw their economic emergency raft–the equity in their homes–go under water. Some lost everything: job, home, hope of a secure retirement, even family. The GOP blamed Obama for all of it although they were more to blame than the president for the slowness of the recovery.

But Republican cynicism doesn’t end there. Now that the economy is finally looking pretty good–more jobs were created in 2014 than in any year since 1999–McConnell is claiming the reason is the Republican win in the 2014 elections for Congress! McConnell is claiming credit for a recovery that began weakly many years ago, gained momentum in the last few years, and accelerated further before the elections. There is a great for that too, a Yiddish one: chutzpah.

There is, of course, another possibility. McConnell is a genius. Einstein’s general theory of relativity, Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty, and Hawking’s deciphering of the mysteries of black holes pale next to McConnell’s discovery. Reversing time’s arrow–making present events influence past ones–is worthy of a Nobel Prize.

I jest. McConnell’s convenient and characteristically crackpot theory about the economy is par for the course. These are, after all, are the same people who sneer at global climate change. Some have their doubts about evolution. Why not a faith-based recovery?

Of course, the good news about the economy–or even McConnell’s buffoonery–should not make us lose sight of the bad news about the economy. Jobs are growing at a healthy pace but the jobs that have been gained usually pay less, have fewer benefits, and are less stable than the ones that were lost. Many young people got a slow start on their careers for which many will pay a price for the rest of their working lives. Many older people who lost their jobs will never get another. Some, after long, successful careers in prestigious fields might end up working at a coffee shop, a fast food joint, or a supermarket. If they are lucky.

Worst of all has been the grossly uneven quality of the recovery. The “haves” got the lion’s share of renewed growth. The “haves not” got the scraps. Or nothing. Whites fared better than Blacks and Latinos. Minorities on average had a much lower net worth than whites before the recession. Then, when the recession hit, many Blacks and Latinos lost the little they had.

As for the main target of this piece, a recent opinion column in the Washington Post was dead-on in describing McConnell’s first speech in the Senate as Majority Leader as a “bitter start,” full of rancor and shots at Obama.

In 2009 McConnell proved to be a really, really sore loser. Now he is topping that by being a miserable winner. And, as bad as the Senate Majority Leader’s words and attitude are, his deeds are worse. One of his first priorities this time around? Blocking an increase in the minimum wage.

Noblesse oblige? Not McConnell.