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Joe has painted himself into a corner [1]

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Date: 2022-07-16

I’ve seen it expressed here and elsewhere that Joe Biden needs to get way more stringent. In particular, he needs to “light a fire” underneath Merrick Garland with regards to the January 6 illegalities. Not only have I seen more diaries here on that subject in the last week, but when I visited the Washington Post last night, the sentiment was up and down the comment section. There doesn’t seem to be much equivocation on the part of Biden supporters: the man needs to make a move.

Other issues have sprung up as well. Senator Millstone Joe Manchin keeps torpedoing Biden’s agenda. For some of us, this pattern showed itself last year, fairly early on, but Biden and Schumer kept plugging away, publicly entreating Manchin, getting blown off every time. Now, finally, some of Manchin’s colleagues are beginning to chastise him openly and Biden has announced he will work around Manchin’s obstruction. But this is too little too late.

And what I mean by that is that Biden, after placating Manchin, has shown a tolerance for these moves. I know Biden meant to establish an image of moderation, but what has emerged instead is a record of hesitation, some might even say timidity. He’s been played by Manchin badly, at crucial moments. Kyrsten Sinema’s antics didn’t help. That Biden’s agenda has been scuttled by his own party brings a particularly pathetic shine to the whole ordeal. His moderation has hobbled him.

I remember when he was first elected, and I was speaking with my dad. He had the idea (and the institutional memory) that Biden could be—would be, was setting himself up to be—like Lyndon Johnson. Someone with brass and who could work levers to get things done. My dad doesn’t say things like this anymore. The LBJ possibility has sailed.

Biden is mired.

The problem as I see it is that Biden sees moderation as a value unto itself. However, we’re in a moment where we’re literally fighting a rise of fascism. And if there’s anything to be gained from studying history, it’s the fact that fascists don’t respect moderation. In fact, they see it as weakness.

In the political moment we’re in now, we need a White House, an administration that at least appears to have backbone. Instead, we see Biden fight with his own supporters over an anti-Roe judge, and Biden has backed off the plan to install him only because Rand Paul put in a “blue slip” against the nominee. The whole saga has left Democratic activists mystified.

Why would he go so far? Apparently, he’s seeking comity with Mitch McConnell. But he’s doing so at the expense of the enthusiasm of his own base. We need to see fire from him, if not out of his person then from his positions. We need him to take stalwart stands, to recognize publicly that he’s not dealing with a sane oppositional party right now. He needs to stop doing business as usual.

But the problem is that Biden has already garnered this image. If he breaks now, if he actually does start flexing as some of us have been clamoring for him to do so, it will explicitly look political, especially to his foes. If Biden had started out doing such things, then at this point in the game it would look like he’s just doing his thing. “That’s Biden being Biden,” we might say. But now, just to pivot to a point where he’s defending the liberal flank of the Democratic platform or ethos he will risk appearing flatly political.

This has to be the reason he has been so half-hearted on the abortion issue. I heard over and over in the last two weeks critical questions asking why Biden hasn’t opened up federal lands as areas where certified doctors can perform legal, safe abortions. It appears that the White House has ducked these questions. They’re good questions that need to be addressed. There are options that Biden seems to not consider, completely out of hand. He values moderation unto itself.

Well, we don’t have much time. I noted to myself in April that the country is just like the title of a book I read in sixth grade: Six Months to Live. Now time has gotten shorter and things have gotten even more dire. The January 6 Select Committee has been doing extraordinary heavy lifting, keeping it forefront in the eyes of the American people the plain fact of the Republican Party’s abject criminality. But again there is the inherent, start contrast with Garland’s Justice Department, not acting in the face of such criminality. This contrast disheartens Democrats and emboldens our foes.

I think Biden is somewhat paralyzed by his fidelity to moderation. I think he needs to cast that aside. It will appear political, but he has to take that lump. He needs to rally his own supporters. He has to salvage his image. He must rise to the challenge of the moment and face the fascist threat we have, not negotiate with a Senate he wishes existed.

There will be those who will be angry that anyone is bringing criticism of Biden at such a crucial moment. Well, there is no other time. Biden himself was determined to try to eke out some sort of middle lane last year, patiently trying to move Manchin et al. along, and now that that has gone nowhere (as some of us could have clearly predicted), he’s stuck in the mire. I’m criticizing him in order to urge him to take a different stance. Now, while there’s still time.

If he’s waiting to pivot after the midterms, it will be too late for all of us. Except the fascists, the white supremacists, the militias, the theocrats. For them, Biden’s waiting game may play out just the way they want.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/16/2110731/-Joe-has-painted-himself-into-a-corner

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