The official vote won’t take place until next week, but Sen. Mitch McConnell is so confident he’ll be elected majority leader by Senate Republicans that he has already given himself the title.
In a new video titled “Victory,” released Friday by the McConnell Campaign, snippets of the Kentucky senator’s election night victory speech play as clips of the Bluegrass State’s landscape fade into iconic American images of flags, baseball, soldiers, Mount Rushmore, families, flag raising, and more flags.
The first text on screen declares, “When America was searching for leadership, Kentucky lead the way.” The final montage of the video introduces the title: “Senator Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader.”
Calls to McConnell’s office were not immediately returned.
“Victory” is reminiscent of the classic 1984 Reagan campaign ad “Prouder, Stronger, Better” which declared it was “morning again in America,” as happy white people headed to work, got married, and — you guessed it — raised flags. Whether or not the Reagan connection is intentional, “Victory” makes it clear that Sen. McConnell and his staff are going big, quickly.
Absent from this latest video, however, is the part of McConnell’s speech where the newly re-elected senator signaled his openness to compromising with President Obama and the Democrats in his new role. “I don’t expect the president to wake up tomorrow and view the world any differently then he did when he woke up this morning,” McConnell said Tuesday night. “He knows I won’t either.”
“But look,” McConnell continued, “we do have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree. I think we have a duty to do that. Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict.
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McConnell is expected to be elected as the majority leader on Wednesday.
