Manchin’s Calculus
“Fasten your seatbelts. it’s going to be a bumpy night”
-Margo Channing (Bette Davis), All About Eve
(Photo courtesy of Business Insider)
Senator Joe Manchin of the State of West Virginia is playing the short game long: by insisting that Republicans join Democrats in passing the Voting Rights Act and the $3.5 T Infrastructure Bill, Sen. Manchin feels he has found his voters’ pulse: the needed Republican votes to get him re-elected in West Virginia reflect the country’s predilections. Whose country, Manchin is not sure. But isn’t this what cooperation between parties presumes? A ‘unified country’ dangling at the end of a Senate vote count?
All Manchin has accomplished so far is political enmity. There is no middle ground, no bipartisanship in the world beyond Manchin’s calculus. Are we asking Manchin to end his career in politics? Are we forcing bipartisanship onto an institution viewed so unpopular that former House Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich would blush? Are we treading into cynicism, where all bets are off? Should we take Manchin’s demurrals seriously?
His ‘best girl’ Sen. Kyrsten Sinema likewise is performing her own calculus: the Arizona political glam wannabe is ratcheting up legislation mockery and stumbling along the way. Both Manchin and Sinema are attempting to redeem the past in the glare of an uncertain future. Once West Virginia voted Democratic; once Arizona had two Republicans sitting in the US Senate. Now Arizona has one and one-half Democrats, Mark Kelly (1) and Kyrsten Sinema (1/2). And West Virginia lacks functioning representation in the Senate.
Their “moderation” gives lie to the term. They are “sunny day moderates,” ready to grab a Capitol Step photo op or a Chuck Todd sit-down when the media team predicts a pin hole opening in the 24 hour news cycle. They don’t occupy the middle, they work the ends, posturing to the world that they are doing unity’s bidding.
It’s a backwards looking ruse they and their ilk are performing. To claim ‘moderation’ when the country is collectively clenching its teeth, when homelessness is a phone call or an email away, ‘Manchinema’ come off looking like ‘innocent’ spectator-perpetrators.’ Their ruse just further angers; the teeth clench harder.
So rather than seek solidarity, they seek self-justification, exactly the brand of innocence America despises yet tolerates. Manchin’s “you wouldn’t want to be in my shoes,” is a shameless whine. Sinema does no better, grabbing the camera to show the world she is channeling late Senator John McCain’s thumbs down gesture during a Senate vote on… hold on… raising the Federal minimum wage.
(May, 2021. Photo courtesy of CNN)
Are we being picky? Perhaps. But we are losing the big picture here, in the name of poor locker room collegiality.
Perhaps a fitting metaphor is Manchin’s choice of residence — a $700,000 houseboat in a Potomac estuary. There is no land title, no foundation, nothing to pass down. It rocks with the tides behind its gated dock entrance.
September 29
