{"id":4157,"date":"2021-04-12T07:02:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T11:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4157"},"modified":"2021-04-12T07:02:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T11:02:50","slug":"ninety-six-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/04\/12\/ninety-six-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninety-Six Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Insurrection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On January 6th<\/sup> of this year, 2021, a mob of Americans attacked the United States Congress in the Capitol.  They stopped the certification of the 2020 election temporarily, at the behest of the losing incumbent President.  The entire nation watched as they defiled the Capitol building, invaded the leadership offices and attacked the Capitol Police.  Two officers lost their lives as a result, as well as five of those involved in what we now call \u201cthe Insurrection\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only four months ago, ninety-six days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the aftermath there was actually some rays of \u201chope\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Even Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Kevin McCarthy seemed at first to be as shocked and appalled as the rest of the nation.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps out of the tragedy of the Insurrection there could be some movement towards a return to cooperation in government.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps the raw realization of the divisions that two decades of \u201cwedge\u201d politics created might somehow generate \u2013 common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s Fault<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to blame politicians.\u00a0\u00a0But for many of them, the phrase from the French Revolution,\u00a0\u201cThere go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader,\u201d was reality.\u00a0\u00a0They seemed powerless to move beyond the mindset of their constituents.\u00a0\u00a0But here in my small suburban community there were signs of healing.\u00a0\u00a0Some folks who seemed irrevocably divided by the political debate began to, gingerly, talk again.\u00a0\u00a0But others, now without the \u201csupport\u201d of the former President in office, seem more entrenched in their polarization.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those willing to reach out, there seemed to be as many others so poisoned that there was no \u201ccure\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0On one porch in our community still hangs a banner:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cF**K Biden, and F**K you for voting for him\u201d. Little kids ride by on bicycles, and have difficult conversations with their parents.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2018s hard to see how we come back from that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidential Choice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

President Biden is faced with a choice.  He knows that these first few months are the peak of his political power.  And he\u2019s taking that power \u201cout for a spin\u201d, first with the massive COVID relief package, and now with the \u201cInfrastructure\u201d package.  With COVID it was clear that there was little \u201cwiggle room\u201d for compromise, and when the \u201cmoderate\u201d Republicans countered with a proposal less than a third of the cost, that became the \u201cnon-starter\u201d that led to a Democrat only bill.  Biden moved on without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden is a \u201cman of the Senate\u201d, a man willing to compromise.  And \u201cinfrastructure\u201d is by definition open to that compromise.  The President has emphasized again and again that his proposal is the \u201cbeginning\u201d, and that he totally expects the \u201cend\u201d to be very different.  But \u201cen bloc\u201d the entire Republican delegation to Congress has vowed to vote against a bill they haven\u2019t even seen yet.  They don\u2019t accept the possibility of negotiation, of the use of that now pornographic word \u2013 \u201ccompromise\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herding Cats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And there are those on the Democratic side who feel that way as well.  They demand that there is no need to compromise.  Just line the Democrats up, and let\u2019s take a vote.  There is a problem with that strategy.  Herding Democrats is akin to herding cats \u2013 no two are going in the same direction.  To expect Democratic members of Congress, and particularly Senators, to line up, salute, and march is probably too much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there\u2019s going to need to be compromise there too, both with the Democrats of the left, and especially with those \u201cBlue Dog\u201d Democrats who are elected from deep Red States.\u00a0\u00a0My fellow “Progressive” Democrats, if you expect to keep a majority, you\u2019ve got to give the Manchin\u2019s and the Sinema\u2019s and the Tester\u2019s of this world some room to breathe.\u00a0\u00a0You live in a \u201cbig tent\u201d, it\u2019s got a left, right and middle.\u00a0\u00a0That doesn\u2019t mean Sanders, Warren, and AOC should be ignored.\u00a0\u00a0Since Republicans won\u2019t budge, there still will need to be negotiate within the Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Concept<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And from Republicans, expect no help.  Even if the vast majority of Americans support the infrastructure bill, Democrats and Republicans alike, that isn\u2019t the constituency the  Republican Party in Washington represents.  That Party is worried about one group of voters only:  The Republican primary voter.  And that group is solidly behind one man, no longer in office.  Guess who?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks of a \u201ccertain age\u201d (think eligible or receiving Medicare) look for a \u201creturn to normalcy\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They know what that means \u2013 a time when the political parties could find a way to cooperate.\u00a0\u00a0Sure Ronald Reagan was an extremist, but he could still work with the Democratic Speaker, Tip O\u2019Neil.\u00a0\u00a0Yes Bill Clinton was a Democrat. But many of his proposals were “Republican-lite”. He was even able to make a deal with Newt Gingrich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Joe Biden (also of that certain age) knows exactly what they are talking about.  But to use a very old phrase, \u201cit takes two to tango\u201d.  And we aren\u2019t dancing in Washington, DC today. We are lining up in battle lines, ready to fight.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden is showing he can do that too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Insurrection On January 6th of this year, 2021, a mob of Americans attacked the United States Congress in the Capitol.  They stopped the certification of the 2020 election temporarily, at the behest of the losing incumbent President.  The entire nation watched as they defiled the Capitol building, invaded the leadership offices and attacked the Capitol Police.  Two officers lost … Continue reading “Ninety-Six Days”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNinety-Six Days : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's been 96 days since "The Insurrection". 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