Leubsdorf: Lessons in how to – and how not to – govern

Meanwhile, the Republican-run House, with a similarly small margin, spent weeks trying to elect a new speaker, preventing it from being able to pass a parallel proposal supporting Israel or begin work on necessary measures to keep the government open.

The personal contrast between President Joe Biden and his once-and-future rival, Donald Trump, is both substantive and stylistic. One is a serious foreign policy leader and an adept congressional negotiator, the other is not.

Even before his election, Biden outlined a different world view from the “America First” policy that led Trump to strain relations with this nation’s principal allies and pursue closer ties with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.

Biden’s prompt support for Israel following the surprise Oct. 7 invasion by Hamas terrorists was an easy call, given both America’s and his long-standing support of the Middle East’s only democracy and the fact that the victims and hostages included Americans.

His dramatic one-day visit to Israel and subsequent Oval Office speech to the nation were strong reiterations of American global leadership in general and the need to keep supporting Ukraine and Israel in particular. (He tempered that with cautionary advice to Israel designed to prevent an all-out conflagration.)

The president’s words and actions provided a striking contrast with Trump’s daily sniping.

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, House Republicans have given a political science lesson on how not to govern. For three weeks, they failed to elect a new speaker after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, an unprecedented fiasco that created a legislative standstill.

The chaos and ineptitude contrasted sharply with the way former Speaker Nancy Pelosi successfully managed a similarly small majority, passing important bipartisan legislation bolstering the nation’s infrastructure and domestic chip industry.

“We don’t deserve the majority,” said Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, a longtime GOP leader leaving to seek a Senate seat next year.

Compared to the Republican-controlled House, the Democratic-run Senate has been a paragon of efficiency, though beset by arcane rules that enable dissident Republicans to gum up the works.

Meanwhile, a major crisis looms when federal government funding runs out again on Nov. 17. An extension will almost certainly require bipartisan leadership in both houses, as with the last one that cost McCarthy his job.

The next presidential and congressional elections are just over a year away. That makes it too early to know how much the events of the past three weeks will benefit the one party that seems most likely to actually be able to govern — as they should.