Of Dragons and Pulpits
White House ‘Dragon Slaying’ won’t resurrect Biden’s agenda
(picture of Saint George and the Dragon, courtesy Wikipedia Commons)
Sunday December 19, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced on Fox News that he would not vote for the $1.75 Build Back Better Package, signaling to the world that the BBB was effectively killed… by him. What seemed like minutes later the White House released a lengthy statement (cite) accusing Manchin of going back on his commitment to the President to respect the “framework” of the legislation.
Translation: It’s not too late to pass BBB. But first, Manchin has to ‘come around.’ So let’s expose him for what he is, a cheat and a liar.
Two political realities co-mingled Sunday: the first, that the Senate demonstrated that as an institution and as a deliberative body, it is incapable of supporting the “will of the people,” and two, that Manchin’s announcement was made from the studios of Fox News, whose most popular news anchors had been exposed barely 72 hours earlier of collaborating with 45 in re-writing the events leading up to and culminating in the January 6 attempt to turn over the certification of Joseph R. Biden as the 46th President of the United States.
The future of BBB as an omnibus social program is unclear. Delaying passage of the BBB into 2022, an election year, is risky at best. And the bill’s advocates so far do not have the 50 votes necessary to pass it. So the White House’s statement is ‘dragon slaying,’ calculated to “send a message.” Manchin used Fox News; the White House used Press Secretary Jen Psaki, whose neatly coiffed red hair and sere attire, aptly portray the role of dragon slayer.
Consider the dimension of social legislation inertia in the US Senate. The Senate knows how to appropriate funding for military budgets and emergency stimulus programs; why not omnibus social programs?
During the 2020 Presidential Campaign then former Vice President Biden touted his experience with getting votes in the Senate to pass the Affordable Care Act, etc., etc. So reasonably, it would seem, now President Biden could get votes to pass ‘visionary social programs,’ what Democrats have been talking about for decades but unable to build momentum with their Congressional colleagues to get passed. Biden could “count on” a majority in the House, and a ‘de facto majority’ in the Senate with the Vice President breaking any tie votes.
This confidence seemed misplaced after the Democrats lost some of their majority in the House, and Democrats gasped when the special election votes in Georgia narrowly raised their numbers from 48 to 50 in the Senate. A confidence in a Senate majority did not make it any more durable and the ‘Manchinemas’ soon were in the news: Democrats elected from states like Georgia that voted for 45 or that narrowly carried Biden.
The second miscalculation was thinking that the aura created from passing both Stimulus bills early in Biden’s tenure would help float the. omnibus spending bill through the Senate. After an attempt by House Democrats to forge a vote both on an infrastructure bill which had passed Senate Committees with the hefty BBB failed, the writing on the marble walls became evident: the ‘success spell’ of an omnibus social spending bill was threatened. The Republican minority filibuster juggernaut started chanting “overreach,” accepting Senate Minority Chair McConnell’s rationale that in passing the earlier Stimulus Bills, “we don’t need it (BBB).”
Democrats, specifically Schumer, Durbin, Pelosi, and Stoyer, let the erosion continue: deadlines were missed, press cadres started following ‘Manchinema,’ badgering them with “what ifs.”
And in a way McConnell was right: the Democrats had failed at convincing the country that an omnibus spending bill was necessary.
What galled many on the Democratic left was that the underpinnings of the BBB were to tackle those areas of America’s social inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Democrat leadership failed at pounding home the message that a pandemic which threatened the country, threatened some more than others… many more than the country which touts democracy could tolerate. Caught in a “presumptive” political maelstrom, the Democrat leadership watched as half of the country refused to get vaccinated.
What Psaki attempted on Sunday, the ‘dragon of her slaying,’ was to expose the effort to subvert a legislative program that backfired partly through a lack of conviction and partly through the vicissitudes of the Senate filibuster rule. Reasons abound for acting unreasonable: ‘Manchin had reneged on a commitment to respect the framework for negotiating passage of Biden’s bill.’ ‘Manchin had walked back his former support of the bill’s agenda.’
On Monday, Sen. Manchin responded to the White House statement by blaming the White House staff. By refusing to acknowledge his participation in reducing the BBB’s future, Manchin held the least powerful accountable — the President’s staff, including Psaki.
The demise of the BBB reminds one of President Clinton’s attempt at supporting nationwide health care coverage. Facing a reluctant Congress, Clinton plugged along, arm twisting Congress and ended up sidelining any health care legislation except drug price reform for two administrations. What seemed obvious to Clinton, that Congress would and should want what the American people wanted, proved to be unsustainable for a risk-averse corporate donor driven Congress.
The same holds for ‘ Child and Family Care’ in 2021. Why extend these ‘stimulus’ benefits beyond their expiration in December? Manchin signaled on Sunday that he could only support Family Care if the benefit provisions were discontinued.
The Democrats’ ‘framework’ would be in name only.
That Sen. Manchin chose the silo of Fox News to set down his markers on BBB deserves more than outrage and dragon slaying: he chose to meet his donors where they live — in the misinformation halls of decrepit journalism. The ‘Press’ can take credit for triangulating the discussion about ‘Build Back Better.’ (cite Reich). Triangulating accountability and fairness ‘in reporting,’ the ‘Press’ skirts the issue of what is common democracy. So a daily job is left to the extremes in America to falsely reckon ‘what’s going on’ with ‘righteous anger’ at ‘what’s going on.’
Manchin’s choice of venue is revealing: Fox News, a symptom — not the cause — of this malaise.
Which leaves Senate Minority Chair Mitch McConnell with claiming the narrative on the future of Biden’s $1.75 Trillion Build Back Better Legislation… McConnell, who weekly warns from his pulpit that the Democratic Party has been taken over by left-wing Socialists…McConnell, whose state recently benefitted from federal emergency funds in the aftermatth of a tornado.
And the Democrat leaders in the Senate must swallow that ‘too little, too late’ has not worked well for the country. Again.
Which leaves America with more weekly DC theatrics, and a sanctimonious gaggle of politicians/reporters/pundits.
BBB’s Monday morning’s quarterback is America’s self-appointed whipping boy: poor Joe Manchin, whose electorate barely surpass in number half of those of an urban Congressperson’s district.
December 22
