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\u2019re going to do something \u2013 then do it. I\u2019m one who needs an affirmative, \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d. I don\u2019t deal well with maybes, and even worse, saying \u201cyes\u201d if you really meant \u201cno\u201d. That\u2019s where I get, well, annoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I need to hear the \u201ctruth\u201d, not what we all wish was the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the nation would appreciate the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s 232, more than the amount that Trump declared was a \u201clandslide\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\u00a0\u00a0But the control is as marginal as it could possibly be:\u00a0\u00a0fifty Democrats to fifty Republicans, with the Democratic Vice President breaking the ties in favor of her party.\u00a0\u00a0And what we discovered is how \u201cempowering\u201d that margin has been to the Kyrsten Simena\u2019s and\u00a0\u00a0Joe Manchin\u2019s of the Senate.\u00a0\u00a0They (and every other Democrat) individually hold the \u201ckeys to legislation\u201d, enabled by Republicans who refuse to do anything other than block all Democratic proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a \u201cDemocratic Government\u201d, but truly one on the \u201cedge\u201d of power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one knows that better than Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This week he is putting the Women\u2019s Health Protection Act <\/em>back on the floor, a bill that, for the first time, would put the Roe v Wade <\/em>\u201cpro-choice\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I understand why he\u2019s 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, <\/em>Schumer wants every Senator, and particularly every Senator up for re-election, on the record as either for or against a woman\u2019s right to make their own choices about their own body. It\u2019s all about the 2022 election, not creating laws to protect the people of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s not pretend it\u2019s something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s going to try to \u201cfix it\u201d. But the President knows, and so do the American people, that most of the factors causing inflation are out of his hands. The ultimate \u201cfix\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the President did do is contrast how Republicans, led by Senate Campaign Chairman Rick Scott, would \u201cfix\u201d inflation. Scott promises a tax increase on most Americans, taking the \u201cinflation causing\u201d dollars out of our pockets, and giving it to the government. And that might fix inflation: if people had less money, they can\u2019t buy things. But I\u2019m not sure that it\u2019s good for the American people, or a way to win votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Biden called Scott out on this, the Senator from Florida\u2019s response was to call the President, \u201cincoherent, incapacitated and confused\u201d. I guess when you don\u2019t have a \u201ccoherent\u201d answer, insults are the best you can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNo Fixes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n