For, or Against
Some are expressing surprise that the Democrats who hold power in both the Executive and Legislative Branches in Washington can’t seem to agree on how to proceed. To be fair, they did agree enough to spend trillions of dollars, plunging the U.S. far deeper in debt than ever…but on their supposedly core issues, it’s really a mess.
Not really surprising, though, if you consider a few things.
First, Joe Biden was not exactly a runaway choice as the Democrat nominee. Recall that he was floundering while Bernie Sanders was poised to take the nomination. That’s when deals were cut as part of a “Stop Bernie” movement before a key primary night in March of last year, with several candidates including Sen. Amy Klobuchar and then-Mayor Pete Butteieg dropping out and throwing their support to Biden. He became the “not Bernie” candidate…Democrats were less “for” him than they were “against” Bernie as nominee.
Second, the whole Democrat approach in the last general election was to be against Donald Trump. That’s fine…but when the whole campaign is focused on a negative…and you win…how do you then move forward to do anything? In other words, they peaked once Trump was out of office. While many factions of Democrats came together for the election…they found they had agreement on very few other items when it came time to govern. No wonder, therefore, that there is in fighting about how far to go in reinventing the U.S….they spent their time on being anti-Trump and not being pro-anything.
Third, and it’s related, is that the Democrats only have a tie-breaker majority in the U.S. Senate, and the slimmest of majorities in the U.S. House. Given the lack of consensus on key issues, and no votes to spare, it’s a predictable receipt for stalemate.
Lastly, regardless of party affiliation, or size of majority, or even favorability of leaders…governing is a lot harder in reality than in theory. We’ve seen the script play out multiple times over the decades; the play may as well be called “Unfulfilled Agendas”.
Lest Republicans get too excited over what this means for 2022’s elections…given what a disaster the Democrats have been to date on accomplishing their agenda, it won’t take very much for them to look better than they do now, just in time for another election.
