Watching from outside of the Washington Beltway, it seems the Republican leadership in Congress is incapable of organizing a two-car funeral, let alone enacting major reform or passing significant legislation.

Exhibit No. 1 is the pathetic attempt by House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to repeal and replace Obamacare.

As we all know, Republicans spent seven years vowing to repeal Obamacare.

But after seven years and a surprise Donald Trump presidential victory, the GOP was caught flatfooted, without a health care plan that a majority of Congress could get behind.

Ryan led with a top-down approach — a binary choice for his caucus. He essentially stated: You’re either with me or against me.

Predictably, many Republicans balked. Politics is about inclusion in the making of legislation, not exclusion. The House process was painful to watch, reminding us of a silent movie with Republican House members shuttling back and forth to microphones with virtually the same message: “We’re trying to get to yes.”

After painful negotiations and countless media appearances to explain “how hard it was to get something like this done,” the House passed a bill nobody liked with the hope it could be improved in a conference after the Senate passed its version.

Then entered McConnell, who went through some of the same machinations but ultimately failed to get the Senate on board. The final “thumbs down” — literally — came from Arizona Republican John McCain.

McConnell later weighed in and stated that President Trump had “excessive expectations.” The message went over like a lead balloon with the president and led to a firestorm of tweets.

Clearly, Ryan and McConnell were no fans of the Trump candidacy for president or, for that matter, much of his agenda. In the opinion of this writer and others, they deliberately have slow-walked much of what the Trump White House wants to achieve.

Case in point is one of the president’s signature issues and a goal embraced by the base who elected him: building a wall or fence between the United States and Mexico. Neither McConnell, Ryan, nor their allies at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce want to see that happen.

In his late August speech in Arizona, the president threatened to shut down the government if funding for the wall is not included in the upcoming budget. He also called on McConnell to end the legislative filibuster that requires 60 votes to pass controversial bills. President Trump says a simple majority is all that’s needed to pass legislation. That seems to me a reasonable request, especially during these hyperpartisan times.

After all, does anyone doubt that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York would immediately end the legislative filibuster if Democrats took control of the Senate and enact his team’s big-government, progressive agenda?

A lot is at stake this fall, including tax reform or at least tax cuts for businesses and families.

Can Ryan and McConnell pull it together and drive the president’s agenda through their respective caucuses?

We’ll see. If they can’t deliver, then it’s time for a change of management.

Marc Rotterman is host of “Front Row” on UNC-TV and The NC Channel. Follow him on Twitter @FrontRowmarc.