In his first remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate since last week’s election, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) struck a conciliatory tone, a reversal from eight years of vociferously opposing nearly every item on the Obama administration’s legislative agenda.
Of course, McConnell will likely have little to object to in the coming years: With President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office, majorities in both Congressional chambers, 25 states with both a Republican governor and state legislative majority and a Supreme Court poised to tip conservative, the political world is his.
McConnell’s brief remarks notably channeled Obama, whose speech acknowledging Trump’s victory McConnell quoted for the record, with some difficulty.
“As President Obama reminded us, we’re all on one team. This is an inaugural— This is an intramural—excuse me. This is an intramural scrimmage,” he said.
“We’re not Democrats first. We’re not Republicans first. We’re Americans first. We’re patriots first. And now, as you put it, we’re all rooting for the President-elect’s success in uniting and leading the country,” McConnell continued.
