Tevi Troy writes for the Washington Free Beacon about a new assessment of a Republican congressional power broker.

Mitch McConnell is perhaps the most important conservative politician of the post-Reagan era. Both George W. Bush and now Donald Trump have been reelected president as Republicans, but McConnell has wielded power for far longer than eight years in office. McConnell has arguably had more influence on the success and the future of conservatism, particularly in the judiciary, than anyone this century.

Michael Tackett’s new biography of McConnell, The Price of Power, is an important contribution to understanding our political landscape and recognizing McConnell’s vast talents. This is so even though Tackett is not a political fan of his subject. The book praises McConnell reluctantly, which makes the survey of his impact even more impressive. Tackett disapproves of how McConnell has helped reshape the Supreme Court, fill the judiciary, get Republican senators elected, reduce taxes, and combat efforts to have government impose more rules on campaign financing. Nevertheless, Tackett writes, McConnell “is a master of talent, scouting, and opportunism, of planning and execution, in the business of politics, where winning is the measure of success.” …

… In the Senate, unlike most of his other colleagues, McConnell had little interest in national office, but instead set his sights on leadership. Leveraging his keen interest in politics, he ran the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 1997 to 2001. He entered Senate leadership in the 108th Congress, in 2003, and has been in there ever since, a remarkable—and unusually long—run. …

… There is another way in which McConnell distinguished himself from his Senate colleagues. As Tackett writes, “Most senators cannot stop talking. McConnell is known for his inexhaustible capacity to listen.” In a group of show horses, McConnell was a workhorse. Where most senators love to be on TV, McConnell only granted media interviews when he thought they might be helpful to him and his political or policy goals. This means that the media—and his opponents—do not always understand the real McConnell. On this point, Tackett notes that McConnell is depicted as “humorless,” when in reality, “He has a strong, dry, sense of humor.”

McConnell also differed from others in politics by having a thick skin.