There's a real problem with this Biden misreading his mandate talk: it's actively playing into the very problems that led to Trump and our current congressional dysfunction in the first place. It is not the President's job to 'spend time' on bills. His job is to sign or veto them. It is the job of congress to pass legislation. It is the job of congress to decide what legislation gets passed. The president is not the leader of congress. And spending all this time going 'Look at all this stuff Biden is doing wrong' and then talking about congressional dysfunction plays into the notion that the president is a King overseeing a parliament.
The thing is, under Trump the problem was that the president began to do things that were meant to be done by Congress. The bigger problem is that we discovered that not only did wide swaths of the American public not care, the same people also thought that the President could do such things in the first place. That the people who comment on things now go 'why isn't Biden doing all these things' is yet another sign of rot.
Biden does not set the agenda. Congress does. But I don't hear a lot of talk about Schumer or Pelosi, do you?
The bigger issue is this: we have two senators who have decided to waste lots of time. Those two would be Manchin and Sinema. Sinema is a contrarian who has zero interest in actually passing anything. Or at least, she acts that way. Ms. Jean Jacket is pretty openly disdainful towards literally everyone.
Manchin meanwhile, is a fool. You ask why Biden spent months not passing voting rights? Because Manchin said 'I need time to make my own bill that will get bipartisan support.' So Biden gave him that time, Manchin made his bill, and surprise! No GOP members signed on. Not Romney. Not Collins. No one. You want to know why Biden is wasting time? Because people like Manchin do not understand the world they live in.
For all the talk of progressives being the problem, they're the ones who have signaled, over and over, their willingness to pass whatever legislation comes their way. They voted for Manchin's bill. they voted for the other bills that have come forward. And yet, over and over, the people who are being the problem are people like Manchin. He is the new freedom caucus, along with Sinema, who exist to cause trouble than little else.
Perhaps, if you wish to save democracy, you should be targeting the people who are stopping it from happening. More than any 'progressive' issues, it's the moderates who won't play ball on their own issues.
"For all the talk of progressives being the problem, they're the ones who have signaled, over and over, their willingness to pass whatever legislation comes their way."
I'm not saying there aren't reasonable arguments in favor of the progressives, but this one is hardly fair. Did I miss a bill passed by the Senate that somehow contradicted progressive policy goals and forced the Progressive caucus to bite their tongue and compromise? You're going to give progressives credit for their willingness to pass a different bill authorizing infrastructure spending? Or a voting rights bill which got the OK from Stacey Abrams?
I agree that it's disheartening that no Republicans signed on to the voting rights bill, but at this point it's probably too late to do anything about Republican gerrymandering, so it's not clear that torpedoing the filibuster is worth it anymore. If anything, Congress should have saved this infrastructure fight for next year and focused on voting rights from the beginning. But they didn't, and the Progressives are as much to blame for that as anyone. This was bad prioritization all around.
Manchin understands the world he lives in quite well. He understands that he and his friends and donors have particular interests and he seeks to serve those interests. He understands that he is in the catbird seat and is able to dictate the terms. He understands that he isn't really interested in changing the system or in voter rights, because those things will only peripherally effect him, if at all. Manchin understands that change is bad for him and bad for his friends and donors. He understands that all the people complaining about him don't live in his constituency (or not enough of them to make a difference).
To understand Manchin, look at the career of his daughter. Look at what HIS financial interests are.
There's a real problem with this Biden misreading his mandate talk: it's actively playing into the very problems that led to Trump and our current congressional dysfunction in the first place. It is not the President's job to 'spend time' on bills. His job is to sign or veto them. It is the job of congress to pass legislation. It is the job of congress to decide what legislation gets passed. The president is not the leader of congress. And spending all this time going 'Look at all this stuff Biden is doing wrong' and then talking about congressional dysfunction plays into the notion that the president is a King overseeing a parliament.
The thing is, under Trump the problem was that the president began to do things that were meant to be done by Congress. The bigger problem is that we discovered that not only did wide swaths of the American public not care, the same people also thought that the President could do such things in the first place. That the people who comment on things now go 'why isn't Biden doing all these things' is yet another sign of rot.
Biden does not set the agenda. Congress does. But I don't hear a lot of talk about Schumer or Pelosi, do you?
The bigger issue is this: we have two senators who have decided to waste lots of time. Those two would be Manchin and Sinema. Sinema is a contrarian who has zero interest in actually passing anything. Or at least, she acts that way. Ms. Jean Jacket is pretty openly disdainful towards literally everyone.
Manchin meanwhile, is a fool. You ask why Biden spent months not passing voting rights? Because Manchin said 'I need time to make my own bill that will get bipartisan support.' So Biden gave him that time, Manchin made his bill, and surprise! No GOP members signed on. Not Romney. Not Collins. No one. You want to know why Biden is wasting time? Because people like Manchin do not understand the world they live in.
For all the talk of progressives being the problem, they're the ones who have signaled, over and over, their willingness to pass whatever legislation comes their way. They voted for Manchin's bill. they voted for the other bills that have come forward. And yet, over and over, the people who are being the problem are people like Manchin. He is the new freedom caucus, along with Sinema, who exist to cause trouble than little else.
Perhaps, if you wish to save democracy, you should be targeting the people who are stopping it from happening. More than any 'progressive' issues, it's the moderates who won't play ball on their own issues.
"For all the talk of progressives being the problem, they're the ones who have signaled, over and over, their willingness to pass whatever legislation comes their way."
I'm not saying there aren't reasonable arguments in favor of the progressives, but this one is hardly fair. Did I miss a bill passed by the Senate that somehow contradicted progressive policy goals and forced the Progressive caucus to bite their tongue and compromise? You're going to give progressives credit for their willingness to pass a different bill authorizing infrastructure spending? Or a voting rights bill which got the OK from Stacey Abrams?
I agree that it's disheartening that no Republicans signed on to the voting rights bill, but at this point it's probably too late to do anything about Republican gerrymandering, so it's not clear that torpedoing the filibuster is worth it anymore. If anything, Congress should have saved this infrastructure fight for next year and focused on voting rights from the beginning. But they didn't, and the Progressives are as much to blame for that as anyone. This was bad prioritization all around.
Manchin understands the world he lives in quite well. He understands that he and his friends and donors have particular interests and he seeks to serve those interests. He understands that he is in the catbird seat and is able to dictate the terms. He understands that he isn't really interested in changing the system or in voter rights, because those things will only peripherally effect him, if at all. Manchin understands that change is bad for him and bad for his friends and donors. He understands that all the people complaining about him don't live in his constituency (or not enough of them to make a difference).
To understand Manchin, look at the career of his daughter. Look at what HIS financial interests are.