A Very good piece on the fact that President Biden’s Build Back Better IS supported by a majority of Americans….
But?
The American political system actually works AGAINST that majority…
That a single US Senator could stop TRILLIONS in tax money going back to those who paid it is incredulous …
But as it is pointed out in a Dan Pfeiffer piece…
This IS the way the American political system has evolved….
Senator Manchin did not choose to be where he’s at…
But he IS….
Biden, Schumer and Pelosi need to stop listening to the hand ringing from the left and work with Manchin and Since to get some of Biden’s package passed…
That will also help swing district House and Senate Democrats for the November Midterm elections….
Contrary to those who think and say Democrats can win the White House and Congress with JUST Democratic voters?
THAT just is NOT the way things are…
The Democratic House majority is less than 10 votes….
The Democratic Senate majority is the Vice President…..
Last week, the Democrats temporarily threw in the towel on their two top priorities — Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Plan and voting rights legislation. Negotiations with Joe Manchin and Kyrtsen Sinema on both issues hit an impasse. Now, Democrats promise to pick these back up next year, but two things are now clear. On Build Back Better, Joe Manchin’s position shifted so much that Democrats are forced to rip up the $1.75 trillion bill the House passed in November and start from scratch to satisfy Manchin’s ill-informed and conflicting demands. Voting rights, unbelievably, are in an even more precarious position. Democrats were optimistic about a compromise on the Senate rules. This compromise aims to free voting rights from a Republican filibuster, but Synema decided to gleefully rain on everyone’s parade and reiterate her nonsensical view that the rights of the Senate minority supersede the right to vote in this country.
This pre-holiday double whammy caused yet another wave of disappointment and surprise among Democrats, myself included. I was skeptical of the ability to pass voting rights. Yet I was (uncharacteristically) optimistic about the Build Back Better Plan. I believed it was a question of when, not if. Manchin engaged in some performative centrism by insisting on some cruel cuts to the bill; but in the end, something similar to the House bill would be signed into law. It wouldn’t be everything, but it would be a BFD.
This now seems highly unlikely. Something may still get done. Even if we only manage climate funding or the extension of the child tax credit, President Biden will have accomplished something historic.
Taking a step back for a hard-eyed analysis of the situation, it’s easy to wonder how we got our expectations out of whack in the first place. At the end of the day, this is a 50-50 Senate. Passage of anything and everything depends on the acquiescence of a conservative Senator from a coal-producing state that Trump won by 40 points. And even if you somehow convince Manchin to come on board, Sinema is waiting in the wings to upend the legislative applecart. It is fucking maddening, but it is also reality.
The big question Democrats need to ask isn’t “how do we convince Joe Manchin?” It’s “why is a party that has won the popular vote all but once since 1996 depending on the vote of one man from a very Republican state to do anything?”…
…
The most important thing Democrats must recognize is that America is a center-left country with a center-right political system. Joe Biden won the popular vote by more than seven million votes, but almost lost because the Electoral College structurally favors Republicans. In order to win the presidency, a Democrat must win over voters more conservative than the median American. Turning out our base is necessary, but not sufficient to capture the White House.
Biden’s agenda is broadly popular according to every poll but goes nowhere because the Senate gives disproportionate power to sparsely populated, very Republican, rural states…..
…
If we were straight about the situation, the public would be more understanding of the defeats and appreciative of the willingness to take on tough fights when the odds are long. This failure puts President Biden in the position of being judged, not for his successes, but for his failures. And it lets the Republicans off the hook for their unanimous opposition to popular, necessary policies.
Note…
Part of the blame for Democrats IS in having a President that simply is NOT good at messaging in the media…
Joseph Biden is NOT the Bigger than Life Donald Trump, or Barack Obama…
THAT IS costing him and the party….
Excellent linked piece…..
A single U.S. Senator?
No, not even close. There are at least 51 US Senators opposed.
aka a majority.