Weak? No, I don’t think so. Noble-minded and astoundingly foolish? Absolutely.
He doesn’t want to use executive privilege to make voting reform happen for two reasons: First, the reforms could then be just as easily undone by any future president. Second, he has some kind of ideal that a consensus can (and should) be had in regards to legislation affecting a fundamental element of the nation.
The first reason makes sense. The second I can understand and appreciate for its high-mindedness. I also think it makes him a fool. It is as if he doesn’t understand the game as it is played today. This is not the Senate of years past that he knows so well. His peers in the Senate from that time were high-minded, yet reasonable, and could give a little to get a little. Most of them are dead.
I also think most Dems are damned fools for their “strategy” of combining and splitting apart bills/proposed legislation. They are just shooting themselves in the foot, over and over. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act had bipartisan support that would have enabled it to be passed, but the Dems decided to treat it as an ingredient in a larger shit sandwich.
Their reach exceeds their grasp, that is for sure.
And splitting apart Build Back Better and the infrastructure bill...aside from the progressives, the Dems could not see, or were unwilling to admit, that it would mean the infrastructure bill would easily pass (cash-grab that it is) and Build Back Better never would.
But also, are they so unwilling to compromise on the inclusion of the child tax credit that they are willing to throw the rest away? How noble, and what idiocy.
I mean, I get that many want to make that part of the bill non-negotiable. That ensures a no from Manchin and Sinema, so they lose everything else as a result.
That means they are not doing the job they were elected to do.
Weak? No.
Oblivious, inflexible, foolish, shambolic, uncaring, and wilfully impotent? Yes, all of these things, and more besides. They present as rank amateurs.
Get passed what you can, Dems, while you have the chance. Get rid of that which causes BBB to be stillborn. Your games are not amusing. We’re out here, and you don’t give a fuck. Any of us would have been fired from our jobs long ago had our performance been as that of yours.
I’m watching it all go by, waiting for the bloodbath that will be 2022 midterms. Dems, you couldn’t have screwed the pooch any harder if you had tried.
The other reason that it is important to present legislation that will secure the votes to pass is because there are other pressing matters. Get it done so you have enough time and resources to come up with an actual COVID plan of action. And on that point, crack the whip and muzzle the CDC until they pull their thumb out of their ass. It’s like a slow-motion car crash. Honor the science, be consistent, and stop changing recommendations upon imagining a ray of hope. This isn’t over, far from it.
WTF,
Ian
