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For millions of Americans listening to Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) for the first time Wednesday, the new House speaker made a really good impression. After he accepted the speaker's gavel, Johnson's first message was directed to his Democratic opposition.
"I know we see things from very different points of view," he said. "But I know that in your heart, you love and care about this country, and you want to do what's right. And so, we're going to find common ground."
For a guy nicknamed "MAGA Mike Johnson," it was a decidedly un-Trumpian start. Johnson exuded the kind of grace and magnanimity that many despaired had been irretrievably lost in American politics. It was what the country desperately wanted. And it was exactly what House Republicans desperately needed.
Now the question is: Will he be able -- or allowed -- to deliver? Or will Johnson's pledge of bipartisanship be just another broken promise? Will Johnson be a leader who understands that he controls one half of one branch of government? Or will he pushed into launching pointless kamikaze missions that fail to advance conservative principles?
Johnson is a full-spectrum conservative. But it was significant that the conservative hero he invoked was Ronald Reagan. "In his farewell address, President Reagan explained the secret of his rapport with people. … He said, 'They call me the Great Communicator, but … I was just communicating great things.'" The new speaker then defined those great things: "individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets and human dignity." Those, he said, "are the foundations that made us the extraordinary nation that we are."
This much is certain: Just as Reagan supported freedom fighters across the globe against Russian expansionism, the Gipper would have stood squarely with Ukraine. Johnson has voted four times against aid to Ukraine. But in his speech, he pointed out that "we stand at a very dangerous time … Turmoil and violence have rocked the Middle East and Eastern Europe. We all know it. And tensions continue to build in the Indo-Pacific. The country demands strong leadership of this body and we must not waver."
If Johnson keeps that promise, the will of the majority will prevail.
Johnson seems to understand the gravity of his assignment. He talked about being the son of a firefighter, who was critically burned in the line of duty when Johnson was 12 years old. "He lived with pain all the rest of his life for decades more," Johnson said. "And I lost my dad to cancer three days before I got elected to Congress. Three days. And he wanted to be there at my election night so badly."
One night in 2017, a few weeks after joining Congress, Johnson said, he was presiding over the House, listening to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) "winding down one of her long, eloquent speeches." There were peals of laughter from both sides of the aisle. And he looked up at the top of the chamber and "I saw the face of Moses staring down, and I just felt, in that moment, the weight of this place."
"I just knew in that moment that my dad, my father, would be proud of me. ... And I think all the American people, at one time, had great pride in this institution. But right now, that's in jeopardy."
And we have a challenge before us right now to rebuild and restore that trust."
Let's hope and pray he means it.