The Grass Is Greener In the Other Field

In light of the Build Back Better Act being on death's door, I took consolation from the fact that at least the bipartisan infrastructure bill was passed in November, and that means better highways, better bridges, better transit systems - you know, building back better. 

Think again, sucker.  The PBS NewsHour's Jeff Greenfield (above) was on the program's weekend edition this past Sunday, and he explained that the new infrastructure bill isn't going to produce any visible results any time soon or even any time later.  He said that many of the projects will be, as they have always been, bogged down by cost overruns and delays (he didn't cite the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan but I could), as well as local opposition to projects no matter how badly they're needed - mainly due to NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard).  Also, Greenfield noted design flaws in infrastructure projects - like the wheels of passenger trains in the Honolulu area misaligned with the track gauge.

Which is a roundabout way of making the point that, even with the infrastructure bill passed, the Democrats won't have anything to boast about for the 2022 midterms.

Tell me how proud I should be to be an American . . . I keep forgetting.   

The Infrastructure Bill

President Biden finally got his infrastructure bill passed this past Friday, and while it couldn't help Terry McAuliffe in Virginia - Phil Murphy won re-election in New Jersey in part by what he achieved in Trenton, not what Biden had been trying to achieve in Washington (more on that later) - it did help set up the Democrats for a midterm election campaign in 2022 that might not be as awful as what the pundits are predicting.  Bu then, the pundits are making predictions for November 2022 based on what's happening in November 2021, which makes about as much sense as when they made predictions in November 2019 for November 2020.  Because in November 2019, the Democrats had no presidential front-runner, the economy was ascendant, Trump was riding high despite the threat of impeachment, and there was nothing threatening international stability - except maybe this weird SARS virus that suddenly emerged in central China, but hey, it wasn't like it was going to be any worse than the original SARS virus from 2003, right?

Anyway, I can't tell you what's in the infrastructure bill that is now law, because there's too much in it. So why don't I show you? 

All nice things we now can have, not unlike the nice things that are taken for granted elsewhere.  My only complaint is that highways get more money that railways, and the $66 billion to be spent on rail is divided between passenger an freight rail. Translation: Don't expect TGV-like bullet trains for Amtrak any time soon.  Or any time later.  Be thankful if current Amtrak service is expanded.

The reconciliation bill, which will give us even more nice things, should be passed before the first of the year, albeit in a truncated form.  Once that's done, and hopefully with the pandemic possibly in retreat, the Democrats should have enough talking points to help them in the 2022 midterms - provided they can get voters to understand how these achievements will help them lead better, happier lives.  That's the problem; Democrats are as good as messaging as I am at playing the guitar.  I can play the notes, but I can't make music.  Democrats - the party of hip-hop - have to present their message on how their policies work for all of us by presenting it as if were a song that everyone will want to sing along to, not just hit the right notes.  And they have to start to effectively present their message now.

If the don't do it, the Republicans could make massive gains in 2022 and then we'll be singing different songs - Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. 

Music is the language with which I speak.