Biden Has His Crack. Watch Him Take A Crow Bar To It

I used to work for a living. And everybody knows that when you’re at work, there’s nothing worse than shit coming tumbling down on your head from above. But if you’re in a management position, it’s even worse to have shit come hurling up from down below.

Think of it. There you are, a US Senator, one of the Club of 100, 100 of the most powerful men and women in Washington. You can make or break a presidency with your votes. And now you’ve gotta sit there and take a bucket of shit from a pipsqueak state or county chairman over your impeachment vote? It’s intolerable!

But to a certain extent, they have no choice. Because Senators are creatures of Washington, who come home to their states on breaks. These state and county chairs are local creatures, and they know exactly what buttons to push to make life extremely uncomfortable for a renegade Senator. That’s where Trump remains such a threat to the GOP Senate, the fealty of state and local county GOP chairs and operatives.

But here’s the funny thing. Trump isn’t the only one who can use state and local GOP leaders to put pressure on GOP Senators. Since his opening day, Joe Biden has preached bipartisanship. But there’s bipartisanship, and then there’s bipartisanship. And nobody is better at it than Biden. Here’s what I mean.

All the way back during the transition, before being inaugurated, Biden announced with great fanfare a comprehensive, $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill to help everyday Americans survive, as well as to deal with the virus once and for all. And one of the first things that he did was to incite 10 moderate GOP Senators into the Oval Office to explain the plan, and get their input. Which they immediately and predictably trashed.

But here’s the kicker. What else did Biden do? He took his word to the street. He held video town halls and conferences with bipartisan Democratic, GOP, and independent Mayors and Governors, and pitched his plan directly to them. Free of GOP Senate spin, Biden and Harris laid out exactly what the plan would do, and how the states and cities would benefit from it directly.

And you know what? They freakin’ loved it! They were like kittens with cream. After all, what Governor, Democratic or Republican, doesn’t love tens of millions of federal dollars to help cover the budget revenue gaps caused by having to shut their states doe’s for a month or more? And what Mayor, Democrat or Republican, wouldn’t love millions of federal dollars to cover their own budget shortfalls, keep cops and firefighters on the street, rehab schools for post Covid re-openings, and provide relief to small Main Street businesses to help them survive?

And you’re already seeing the early payoffs from this plan. West Virginia’s turncoat GOP Governor touted the plan like a prodigal son, and warned Democratic Senator Joe Manchin that if he knew what was good for him, he’d vote for the biggest plan on the table. And GOP Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson practically had pom-poms in his hands when he implored Senators that  There is no such thing as going too big, we’re dying out here.

This is only going to get worse. Mitch McConnell still has his eye on trying to retake the Senate in 2022, and obstruction is still the key. But the Democrats can ram this through on their own, through reconciliation. How does McConnell demand that his caucus hold the line, and then send vulnerable Senators back home to explain their No votes to furious Governors, Mayors, and constituents, all of whom are firmly for the bill?

And, Biden being Biden, why would it stop there? Once the Covid bill is passed, next up at bat is the American Recovery Infrastructure Act to get the American economy back up and running, and Americans back at work. Why wouldn’t Biden take another bite of that apple? Roll out the package, bring in the GOP Senate and explain it to them, and then immediately turn around and hold video town halls and seminars with bipartisan Governors and Mayors? After all, who doesn’t want new schools, broadband internet, repaired roads and bridges, new schools and upgraded airports and ports? And if the timing is right, they’ll be going through that pitched battle just as primary season for the 2022 midterms starts to kick into gear. Who do vulnerable GOP Senators and even House swing district incumbents cater to, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, for the constituents whose votes they need to get reelected?

This is the problem for McConnell and the GOP writ large. It’s easy to obstruct over big, complicated issues that the GOP can spin to their own electoral advantage. But the country is hurting right now, and these plans are surgically geared to be easy to understand, and deal directly with the problems people are the most worried about. And as a result, they’re insanely popular. Trump directly started this mess, with his mammoth incompetence, and endless purity tests of total loyalty to him, and now the GOP has to deal with it. And if there’s one thing that Joe Biden learned decades ago it’s exactly how to tug those old short-and-curlies. This should be fun.

Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35

XXXXX