Mitch McConnell is a great politician.

I just wish he was a better American.

As I write this, they say that the senator from Kentucky is alive, lucid, and recuperating. If that’s true, I wish him a speedy recovery.

I also wish he would step down and let an able-bodied person do his job.

Mitch McConnell is 84 years old, and that’s not a spry 84 years old. He’s blacked out in front of the cameras. He had to be wheeled through the halls of the Capitol, too feeble to walk. Even when he was visibly present on Capitol Hill, he was one step away from Weekend at Bernie’s.

Mitch McConnell doesn’t get enough credit for getting us in the mess America is in today. His lack of leadership and his political cowardice during the January 6th impeachment trial gave Donald Trump a lifeline to return to the White House.

If he was a better American, he could have done more to convict the president, preventing him from ever running for the office again. At the very least, he could have joined the seven Republican senators who voted to convict.

Instead, when it came time, he voted not guilty even though he knew the President was indeed guilty. After they failed to reach the 2/3 majority to convict, he went on the Senate floor to excoriate President Trump, calling him “morally responsible.” He went on to say that the president’s actions were a “disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

Tough talk when it was too late to do anything about it.

Thanks to McConnell’s cowardice, we are in a war with no sign of getting out. A war that has increased the price of gas and threatens to upset the world’s economy. A war that is being used as a recruiting tool for terrorists.

Due to McConnell being so concerned with covering his political ass, we have tariffs that are alienating our allies like Canada and Australia.

These tariffs are not only alienating our friends, but they’re also making it harder for everyday Americans to feed their families. But thanks to McConnell being such a good politician, we have a president that is using his office to generate billions for his own personal wealth.

Mitch McConnell is a hypocrite. When Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to be a Supreme Court Justice, he refused to take it up for a vote, saying that it was too close to the next presidential election. His argument was that the next president should make the nomination. There were 294 days left in Obama’s term.

And while I disagreed with that tactic, I could have given him the benefit of the doubt if he wasn’t such a hypocrite.

Because when President Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett with only 100 days left, McConnell fast-tracked that nomination, guaranteeing a conservative majority in the Supreme Court.

McConnell’s hypocrisy gave us a nation where the Supreme Court gave the president expanded powers and increased immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.

Mitch McConnell is stepping down in November anyway. But either he or his wife and handlers are clinging to that seat regardless of the lack of representation for the voters of Kentucky.

It’s all part of being a good politician.

But a good American would do the right thing and let a competent person have the job. A noble American would be more concerned with the good of the country and less concerned with his own political power.

But I guess I’m just being a dreamer. Even though the Constitution calls for our government to be concerned with the “General Welfare” of the country, in today’s world too many in politics are more concerned with their power and influence.

Mitch McConnell was a very good politician. He’s Kentucky’s longest-serving senator, holding office for over 40 years. During that time, he saw the nation’s debt increase from 1.8 billion in 1985 to almost 40 trillion dollars today. He was able to go up the ranks of power to eventually be the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history.

And still, with all that power, he doesn’t get enough credit for helping to put us in the mess we are in today. He helped create a country where we have plenty of money for bombs, but not enough money to help pay senior citizens’ medical costs or help feed the poor.

But those things will happen when our elected leaders are more concerned with being good politicians instead of good Americans.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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