In an article a day or so ago, I opined that when President Biden led the charge of Democratic and GOP Senators down the White House driveway to announce a bipartisan infrastructure agreement, he was one upping Mitch McConnell, and hamstringing the GOP’s future moves. And today the White House threw out a 5 lb bread crumb that makes me feel even more strongly that I was right.
Biden ran on bipartisanship, moving across the aisle to get things done. And he has tried to govern that way as well. A regular part of his speech is that There is nothing we can’t do as a country when we do it together. And starting with his vaccine rollout, and proceeding through his Covid relief bill, and the run up to his infrastructure bill, Biden has taken his message to the streets, often to GOP locales, to create an outside the beltway kind of bipartisanship to put pressure on the GOP House and Senate. And it’s worked, Biden and his policies are much more popular with voters, even GOP voters, than the GOP Senate.
He’s about to do it again, but this time likely with a twist. The US Senate just blew town for their two week 4th of July recess. And the White House just announced today that on Tuesday, Biden is going to be firing up Air Force One to head to Wisconsin to tout the merits of the bipartisan infrastructure agreement. He’s been doing this all along on his priority legislation. But if the speech is broadcast, pay close attention.
Biden will point out to all and sundry the myriad of benefits of this legislation, not only broadly, but for the state of Wisconsin specifically. He’ll rattle off the millions of federal dollars that will flow into the state for critical repairs and upgrades. And then he will almost certainly lavish praise on the moderate GOP Senators who negotiated the bill, quite possibly calling them by name. Biden wrapped his arms around the Senate GOP in the White House driveway, and he’s going to show that he only did that to chain them to the mast. If he does this right, he comes out of it with the Senate GOP having as much skin in the game for passage of this bill as Biden does.
This is terrible news for Ron Johnson. Johnson, from Wisconsin, is one of the weakest GOP incumbents up for reelection in 2022. And he’s no moderate, he’s a die hard Trombie. This is why it is such a political masterstroke for Biden to go to Wisconsin right off of the bat. Let’s see how Johnson deals with it when he starts getting constituent pressure to pass a bill he’d rather die in harness than vote for. Johnson already got a taste of his popularity when he got booed off the property at a Juneteenth celebration in Milwaukee.
And this is just the start. There will be more road trips, and the Senate is out for two weeks. If I were Biden, I’d go back to the Vietnam days and carpet bomb. Grab some surrogates and go on tour. Hit Florida, where Rubio is no sure bet, hit Georgia and Arizona to help to prop up Warnock and Kelly with quality talking points. Hit North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, all of which will have open GOP Senate seats this year, and set the table for the Democratic challengers. The possibilities and all of them only serve to increase the national popularity of both Biden as well as the bipartisan bill, increasing pressure on the GOP Senate.
Sweet Jesus! I swear to God, right now I’m like a 6 year old kid in a candy store with a $100 gift card from Grandma. After 5 1/2 years of the toxic sewage that passed for politics under Trump. It is pure, unadulterated joy to watch classic politics practiced by a master.
What this image game does, is to set it up so that, no matter how long it takes to get something done in Washington, the majority of voters in the country will hold the Republicans responsible for any Democratic failures on popular legislation. And with the GOP still bowing and scraping to Trumpism, and letting wingnuts like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, and Matt Gaetz be the public faces, it could be enough to sway white, suburban soccer moms and independents to turn 2022 into another Blue Tsunami. Don’t touch that dial.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
I am more than ever, glad that Biden is President. He knows exactly how to handle the obstructionism that passes for the republican party nowadays.
What a difference it makes when you put someone experienced in governing, in charge of government.
They can actually GOVERN effectively and put policies voted for by their constituents into effect.
Republicans and their ‘conservatism’ has had this country on a starvation diet for forty years with their budget cutting and cutting back government, tax cuts for the rich and piling the tax burden on individuals, corporate welfare is okay, but none for the most vulnerable, threats to cut the safety nets, undermining unions and the middle class, etc. The People are overdue for receiving the benefits of being a citizen of this country. We see the RWNJ’s wringing their little hands, ‘oh, but the deficit, the budget’ etc. Where was the concern for the deficit when the GQP was giving fat tax breaks to the fattest cats? I want Joe to go big on his programs and eff the repuqs. We’re tired of their stingy, whining BS, keeping everything for themselves. We need infrastructure and jobs, not more rich @holes. There are more of us than them, 99% to 1%. We can turn this tide, but it’s important to prove the point that the repuq @holes that folks keep putting back into office aren’t doing the job for them. Those in charge of getting Joe’s message out need to hammer it home every day in every way possible. People need to stop voting against their own best interests if they want to get ahead.
“People need to stop voting against their own best interests if they want to get ahead.”
Part of the problem with that idea is that “people” have been voting against their own interests largely because the GOP has made sure that the “people” have had someone else to blame for the “people’s” ills. The GOP blocks minimum wage increases because “it stifles businesses and keeps them from hiring more people” and the “people” stupidly believe the idea that businesses will just hire people for higher-than-minimum wage out of the goodness of their hearts (and, no matter how many times the reality has shown that businesses always manage to hire more people despite the wage increases–without drastically raising prices–the “people” fall for it). The GOP promise “tax cuts for everyone” but the “people” never seem to realize that most of them won’t see more than a couple of pennies in cuts while the fat cats will get millions (possibly billions) and, of course, that plays into the GOP’s usual shtick about “these tax cuts are necessary because someday you too will be a millionaire and you won’t want to pay all your hard-earned money to the government” (even as most of the millionaires’ money is NOT “hard-earned” and very few people have the chance of becoming millionaires–or even comfortably well-off–on their own).
And, of course, the GOP plays the “they’re gonna take your guns” and “every woman’s going to be forced to have an abortion” or “you’re going to be forced to marry someone of the same sex” cards as often as possible, mainly to keep the “people” distracted from the real issues.
Unfortunately, the Government cutbacks have been to stymy or even dissolve so the world’s worst polluters and criminal action Companies like Koch Industries, can continue to operate with huge incomes for the Koch Brothers, (about 40 Billion Dollars a year for each Brother)
Locally, our Senator Ernst, was running FOR the Koch money, every other word out of her mouth was about cutting back Government regulations and limits that kept the duet in check, their paper industry in MN, has polluted streams until everything in the water died … their pollution in the Canadian forests has killed thousands of migrant birds that mistakenly land on their poison ponds for rest and fresh water … those ponds are part of their shitting on all world safety with shale oil recovery, pumping corrosive crap, highly flammable liquid in pipes across the United States …
Our former Governor Branstad, traveled across Iowa touting the new pipeline going across the State of Iowa … within the first two days of bringing the pipe on line, a valve in northern Iowa sprung a leak, so much for safe shit … he promised 20,000 new jobs connected to the pipeline, there were maybe 3 jobs in Iowa …
These continuing criminal actions on behalf of the most wealthy, “don’t give a damn”, mega dark money people that just do whatever they want, no matter who or what get destroyed, is the legacy being left behind all the crooked Republicans, now our local State Republicans are trying to destroy our stellar voting system that has NOT had any fraud for years and years, backed up, of course, by our worthless Republican Governor who signs anything the Repubs want done …
From your mouth to Biden’s ear!
Wow, the Republicans. It’s as if they all were in a FOUR YEAR COMA and, on 1/20/2021, WOKE (see, I can use that word, too) up, just like a miracle. Then they all, to a man, decided, oooh, we’re supposed to be party of deficit scolds.
After the Trump fiscal waste, I don’t want to hear anything from so called fiscal conservatives. I hope they get called out at every turn. Am grateful Biden is at the helm.
He should add Arizona and West Virginia to the itinerary to pressure two other GOP Senators, Manchin and Sinema.
Uncle Joe was always Trump’s worst nightmare. So glad to see he’s turning into the GQP’s as well.
The infrastructure bill is largely an open invitation to waste and corruption. Prove me wrong.