Mitch McConnell's politics are about power, not leadership. He should have retired long ago.

On February 29, 1984, the legendary Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, the dad of the current prime minister, resigned from his position after having held it for 15 years, not 40-plus. At the time, he was 64. But he looked much younger.

Asked by reporters why he picked a leap day to make the announcement, the quick-witted leader said he didn’t want to give his opponents the pleasure of yearly celebration of his resignation.

I heartily thank Sen. Mitch McConnell for not depriving us of a yearly celebration, having announced his decision to leave his Senate leadership position on Feb. 28. One more day, and he could have pulled a Trudeau on us. Nay, not a chance; McConnell has the wit of a robot low on batteries.

What took Mitch McConnell so long?

McConnell’s minions are admiring him for showing the wisdom of having decided to leave his position at the end of 2024. The question should be what took him so long? The man is 82. He has been freezing right in the middle of a conversation. Did they want him to mimic Dianne Feinstein or Franklin D. Roosevelt? Some Republicans would rather die than mimic a Democrat – and vice versa.

Even if McConnell was still as young, healthy and physically active as was Trudeau on the leap day of 1984, what else could he have given to America after 40 plus years of self-centered politicking? More self-centered politicking, I suppose!

The divisiveness and senseless partisanship that mar Washington today are partly because of ego-trips shamelessly and selfishly taken by McConnell and his ilk – from both parties – over the decades. We can do with one less perpetrator.

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McConnell's politics were about power

McConnell's politicking was all about his self-aggrandizement and addiction to power. America fared in his thought processes, but only if it did not stymie his lust for power. In the run-up to the 2006 mid-term elections, he saw President George W. Bush with a request to withdraw some troops from Iraq, to help their party do well in the elections.

Bush shot him down. “I would set troops levels to achieve victory in Iraq, not victory at the polls,” responded the 43rd president.

In fairness to McConnell, the news from Iraq in those days was grim. Several politicians from both parties were asking for a drawdown of troops, perhaps more to impress the voters than out of concern for national security. Cheap politicking is a way of political dwarfs. But when the Republican Whip in the Senate takes his addiction to power to the presidential ears, it’s horrible.

When McConnell’s Democratic challenger, Amy McGrath, in an election campaign ad, criticized him over his dereliction on China, an important area in the domain of American foreign policy, he, instead of rebutting the points the ad raised, called it racist. His reasoning: His wife, Elaine Chao, is of Chinese descent.

It was like saying that Americans of Russian heritage will feel offended if we condemn Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. What an idiocy!

China has claimed virtual ownership of international waters in the South China Sea. It has built an artificial island there, on which it is maintaining a giant military base. American allies in the region are tense. But the legislators from both parties, seem indifferent to it, barring their muted comments. That seemed to have eluded McConnell, too, when he saw McGrath’s ad.

McConnell is devoid of leadership

The reality is McConnell is devoid of leadership, as is every power-hungry politician, be it a democracy like America or a dictatorship. If you have lacked leadership traits throughout your political career, you will lack them during a few additional years, too.

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Leadership is more than getting reelected based on millions you can raise through the power cult you have engendered and nurtured in your career. It is being able to see beyond yourself and strengthen the institutions of democracy. Far from strengthening them, McConnell weakened them. His filthy politicking on judicial nominations undermined the delicate relationship between the three branches of government. It will take posterity decades to recover from it.

Being an ego-maniac is not being a leader. Savior complex is a trait of dictators, not leaders. Otherwise, George Washington would have remained in office until the day he died, as would have Trudeau and Nelson Mandela. Leaders are cognizant of power’s corrosiveness. Mitt Romney proved that.

And dwarfs like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan would not have had to amend their constitutions, just to extend their stay in power. Thank God amending the Constitution is not an easy bet in America. Otherwise, probably even Bill Clinton would have tried it, let alone Donald Trump. The framers of the Constitution were visionary leaders, who bequeathed stability to posterity.

Speaking of Trudeau, he gave Canada its constitution. Before that, Canadian constitution resided in England, as an act of the British parliament. Through his selfless and tireless efforts, Trudeau garnered the consensus of all provinces on a draft that took effect as Canada’s constitution, on April 17, 1982. I was among the audience when that happened at the Canadian parliament.

Even a giant like Trudeau resigned after leading Canada for just 15 years. He was a student of history. I am sure he knew of George Washington. Nay, McConnell doesn’t know leadership.

Siddique Malik is an observer of sociopolitical affairs. Find him @The SummerOf1787.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: McConnell retires from Senate leadership. He never was a true leader