Just Tell Me
Folks who know me well; my family, my colleagues, my former students and athletes all know one thing about me. If you tell me you’re going to do something – then do it. I’m one who needs an affirmative, “yes” or “no”. I don’t deal well with maybes, and even worse, saying “yes” if you really meant “no”. That’s where I get, well, annoyed.
I need to hear the “truth”, not what we all wish was the truth.
I think the nation would appreciate the same.
Edge of Power
Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States, was elected to the Presidency with a seven million vote margin over Donald Trump. He won 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, more than the amount that Trump declared was a “landslide” over Hillary Clinton. But we all know the inside number: 45,000. Flip 45,000 votes within three states, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin; and Trump wins.
Democrats retained control of the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi remained the Speaker of the House. But the 2018 margin of 232 Democrats to 197 Republicans slipped to 222 to 213. A change of five more seats, and the Republicans would be in control (and maybe Kevin McCarthy would become the Speaker, a job he has sold his honor and his soul for).
Democrats gained control of the Senate, by the grace of God and the good people of Georgia, who sent two Democrats to Washington in a January runoff election. But the control is as marginal as it could possibly be: fifty Democrats to fifty Republicans, with the Democratic Vice President breaking the ties in favor of her party. And what we discovered is how “empowering” that margin has been to the Kyrsten Simena’s and Joe Manchin’s of the Senate. They (and every other Democrat) individually hold the “keys to legislation”, enabled by Republicans who refuse to do anything other than block all Democratic proposals.
It’s a “Democratic Government”, but truly one on the “edge” of power.
On the Record
No one knows that better than Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This week he is putting the Women’s Health Protection Act back on the floor, a bill that, for the first time, would put the Roe v Wade “pro-choice” rights into Federal law. We know that there are 49 Democrats who will vote in favor. We know there are 48 Republicans opposed. And we know that, unless Sinema and Manchin change their minds, Democrats will not break the filibuster rule requiring 60 votes for passage. So even if Schumer gets 52 votes (unlikely) he still will fall 8 votes short.
I understand why he’s going through this Sisyphean process, voting on legislation doomed to fail. He did the same with the Voting Rights Acts. With the Supreme Court likely to overturn Roe, Schumer wants every Senator, and particularly every Senator up for re-election, on the record as either for or against a woman’s right to make their own choices about their own body. It’s all about the 2022 election, not creating laws to protect the people of the United States.
Let’s not pretend it’s something else.
No Fixes
President Biden gave a speech about the economy yesterday. He acknowledged that inflation was the biggest issue in American economic life, despite the low unemployment rate and rising wages. And he says he’s going to try to “fix it”. But the President knows, and so do the American people, that most of the factors causing inflation are out of his hands. The ultimate “fix” for inflation is time: time to straighten out the Covid damaged supply system, time to end the war in Ukraine, and time deal with corporate profit-taking.
What the President did do is contrast how Republicans, led by Senate Campaign Chairman Rick Scott, would “fix” inflation. Scott promises a tax increase on most Americans, taking the “inflation causing” dollars out of our pockets, and giving it to the government. And that might fix inflation: if people had less money, they can’t buy things. But I’m not sure that it’s good for the American people, or a way to win votes.
When Biden called Scott out on this, the Senator from Florida’s response was to call the President, “incoherent, incapacitated and confused”. I guess when you don’t have a “coherent” answer, insults are the best you can do.
President Biden can’t promise to “fix” inflation. Schumer can’t promise to “fix” Roe, or voting rights. Democrats with marginal power, can only offer marginal solutions. So they should tell the American people that truth, and ask for more support for Democratic candidates to give them more Congressional votes. That’s the only way to “fix” this problem.
The American people can handle the truth.
