Try, Try Again Kevin McCarthy

I’m sitting in my parents’ living room watching the eleventh vote to name a new Speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican candidate from Bakersfield, California has appeared to have now lost eleven times so far, which is hilarious (to me), embarrassing (for him), depressing (to the nation), and maybe even a bit ominous (to people who try to project the future of American politics). The reason he’s losing is because, although Republicans have a majority in the house, it’s a very narrow majority, and there’s a faction within the Republican Party of more extreme representatives that the media are literally comparing to the Joker right now as I write. Like, the Joker, from Batman. According to MSNBC, these extreme right “politicians” just want to watch the world burn.

There haven’t been this many ballots for Speaker since before the Civil War, with the most ballots being 133 in 1855 when Nathaniel Banks won after two months of voting. Unfortunately, the House can’t do ANYTHING else until they choose a new speaker, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for our current Congress, so they’re stuck to repeat this sad cycle until something - or about 18 votes in this case - gives.

That’s about where my facts end. I’m not terribly interested. But I am in the business of silver linings these days, so let’s try to find a lesson or two, shall we?

First, there’s the obvious. Regardless of your political preference, you can admit we’re watching a cliche play itself out in the political arena. Say it with me: “If at first you don’t succeed… try, try again.” Now, it could be argued in this case maybe, he should just like, give up? It’s been eleven ballots. He seems powerless within his own party. The bad actors in the House are seemingly not swayed by any sort of logic or reason. Instead, they continue to disrupt political institutions in the style of former President and current loser in general, Donald Trump. So maybe Kevin McCarthy shouldn’t be Speaker of the House, but it doesn’t matter what we think. He persists no matter how futile his attempts may be, and we can learn from that. Keep trying for that thing you want.

The lesson I find a bit more interesting here, presents itself when we look a little deeper into the faction that continues to prevent McCarthy from achieving the majority. These representatives are apparently some of the same people with which McCarthy has aligned himself in the past, at least when it was convenient to him. Last night I was listening to The Daily, where McCarthy was described as someone who would do whatever he felt was necessary to keep in with the “popular kids” to try to advance his own position. Now it looks like all of that cozying up and political shape shifting is coming back to bite him, at the worst time possible. The takeaway for me is: You gotta be yourself.

I’ll put it in another cliche: Stand for something, or fall for anything. Kevin McCarthy, by the media accounts I’ve heard in the past few days, was willing to change his position whenever he needed to, and that strategy is failing him at the most important time of his political career. Don’t be that guy! Have a code and stick to it! Everybody won’t like you and that’s ok!

Update: Kevin McCarthy has lost his eleventh attempt to become Speaker of the House. The twelfth ballot will commence shortly.