The Jellyfish Leadership of Kevin McCarthy

Michelle Cottle: “Some in the GOP conference are asking: What kind of leader dispatches one of his troops to make a deal, then abandons and humiliates him over a bill that’s going to pass anyway? The most obvious answer: a pathetic one.”

“Such harsh assessments are unfair — though not because they are inaccurate. Mr. McCarthy has long done whatever it takes to get what he wants. And what he really, really wants now is the speaker’s gavel, which hovers just a few precious seats beyond his grasp. If Mitch McConnell, the ruthless, calculating Senate Republican leader, is a shark, Mr. McCarthy is a jellyfish, carried spinelessly along by the political currents.”

“But these days, such inchoate non-leadership is the best that House Republicans can hope for. In fact, that’s what they demand.”