What a Difference a Week Makes

Joe Biden's Presidency seemed to be cratering this time last week.  Now it has new life.

President Biden had what pundits would call "a good week," and though I'd rather not use the language of a bunch of professional opinion givers trying to create a narrative for the news, I have to admit that the past seven days have been a streak of good luck for the President when he really needs it - especially when we seem to be teetering on the verge of a recession and COVID hasn't been licked yet.  (This coming winter, it may lick us again, like it's done in the past two winters.)  Biden himself recovered from COVID (though he's since had a relapse), Congress passed an important bill promoting semiconductor chip manufacturing in the United States, and a new spending agreement was announced by Senate Democrats.  That bill, to be passed by the Democrats in reconciliation, also includes provisions to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices while spending more on incentives to encourage renewable energy and electric vehicles - made possible after West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin cut a deal with Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer.  Gee, what made him change his mind about climate legislation?

You think it may have had something to do with the record flooding his home state is experiencing?

Actually, Manchin got some fossil-fuel exploration incentives added to the bill.  To those environmentalists who have a problem with that, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!

There are a still a few hurdles that even Edwin Moses would have trouble clearing.  Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema still wants to to red the bill, and if she has a problem with the bill and lets the perfect become the enemy of the good,  failed 2020 Senate Democratic candidates Theresa Greenfield and Cal Cunningham will hear their names cursed anew for blowing easy election victories in Iowa and North Carolina, respectively, that could have given the Democrats two extra Senate seats.  (Both Iowa and North Carolina have Senate seats up for re-election again in 2022; neither Greenfield nor Cunningham even bothered to try to run for the Senate again.)  But even if Sinema signs off on it, it faces opposition in the House of Representatives - not from the much-hated Squad but from moderate Democrats from California and the Northeastern states, who want the state-and-local-tax $10,000 deduction cap removed.  The reconciliation bill does not include that.

Because the Democrats have a slim majority in the House and a 50-50 split in the Senate, they'd be best off accepting this compromise.  If they don't, it's only going to make their already difficult task of maintaining their holds on both congressional chambers harder.  And rejecting this compromise would only further drive down Biden's approval ratings.

And yet, he might get a bump if all of this continues to work out, proving that his persistence at getting anything done is paying off.  But yes, I still think it.  I don't want Biden to run again.  Democrats  need new leadership.

I wonder if you all know what I'm talking about? 😉