Why Mitch McConnell is ready to work with Barack Obama

The man who will play a leading role not just in domestic, but also in America's foreign policy – for instance in deciding whether any deal with Tehran over the country's nuclear program gets ratified by the US Senate - does not seek the spotlight. This spring, a quarter of Americans said they had never even heard of Mitch McConnell, according to a Gallup poll.

That is an astonishing figure for the current GOP Senate leader who was first elected to the Senate 30 years ago. To compare: only four percent of Americans told Gallup last year that they had never heard of McConnell's more vocal colleague John McCain.

Laurie Rhodebeck, a political scientist at the University of Louisville in McConnell's home state of Kentucky, knows the senator from various events at the McConnell Center, a nonpartisan leadership program, he created at the university.

The “overcomer”

"At those times he conveys a quiet, almost shy, presence," Rhodebeck told DW. "Sometimes he relates a humorous anecdote about his history with a guest. But overall, he is very low key when he is hosting events at the Center."

But McConnell's low-key style, the public's unfamiliarity with him and his uncharismatic persona betray a driven man. He is an "overcomer," suggests Rhodebeck as the best term to describe McConnell's life.

As a child McConnell overcame polio. After becoming student leader during his university studies, notes Rhodebeck, he overcame long odds to barely defeat an incumbent Senator in 1984. Since then he has been doggedly tenacious in his quest to become Senate majority leader – the job he will now finally hold.

During his 30 years in the Senate, McConnell weathered the transformation of his own party from more centrist positions squarely to the right. And - at least so far - he also overcame the rise of young conservative guns like Ted Cruz who consider McConnell an old school veteran who lacks the appropriate ideological fervor and radicalism to advance their goals.

The assessment by Cruz and other tea party activists that McConnell is not a hardcore conservative, like they are, is spot on.

Focus on career, not ideology

"Mitch McConnell has always been more of a negotiator than an ideologue," Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, told DW. "Even during the early years of the Obama White House, when McConnell's leadership position required him to play more of an obstructionist role, he still ultimately was the Republican who would sit down with Vice President Biden or other executive branch representatives and stitch together compromises."

That McConnell is no ideologue is a trait he shares with Barack Obama. This opens a window of cooperation and even possible compromise between the president and the Senate leader. But make no mistake, McConnell is no pushover. Instead his whole career is proof that he is an expert in staking out positions that advance his own personal ambitions, but also reflect the zeitgeist of his party.

"He is relentless and will push every advantage he has to try to enact policies favored by his caucus," noted Jason Roberts, a congressional scholar at the University of North Carolina. "Much like outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid, his most important work will be behind the scenes as he tries to manage the Senate agenda."

Eye on the history books

A second trait shared by Obama and McConnell is that both are at the apex of their political careers. With no higher office to run for – McConnell has no presidential aspirations – both have a strong focus on their political legacy.

At 72, McConnell is late in his career "and now he's taking his victory lap as a senator," said Voss. "I'm guessing that he's got his eyes as much on his legacy, on his place in the history books, as he does on short-term policy goals. That's one thing he might share with President Obama, who is also in the twilight of his leadership years."

This - and their non-ideological perspective – opens up the possibility for cooperation between the president and the leader of the Senate.

Role of the ‘rowdies'

"Senator McConnell wants eventually to leave politics with what could be considered a record of accomplishment," said Rhodebeck. "Constantly obstructing President Obama will not build such a record."

The question is then less whether McConnell would be prepared to chart a less confrontational course, but whether his more zealous Republican colleagues in the Senate will go along with it.

"I think he'll preside over a "tight ship" in the Senate to accomplish what he deems are the party's most important goals," predicted Rhodebeck. "The rowdies may find themselves shut out of key negotiations and cut off from prize appointments if they don't settle down."

Others are not so sure: "I suspect he and Ted Cruz will tussle a bit for the true head of the party," George Mason University political professor Jennifer Victor told DW. "McConnell's biggest challenge will be holding his coalition of Republicans together. It will be a tough job."