Regardless of what happens in the Georgia runoff, the future of this country may depend mostly on the personal relation between two 78 year old men, Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell. Remember from a previous blog post, Joe Manchin pledged not end the filibuster. So even if the Democrats win control of the Senate, they will not be able to do much without the support of 10 Republican Senators. If the Republicans keep control of the Senate, they may be more willing to work with Biden on moderate policy, which may be what Biden wants anyway.
Both Biden and McConnell need to appease their base, but they seem to be able to work together; remember the accomplishments of the 2010 Lame Duck Session. Also McConnell, and many other Republican Senators, have acknowledged their friendship with Biden. Here are two videos from 2016:
After Biden was declared the winner, McConnell had to respect Trumps challenges, but it was suspected that he had privately communicated with Biden, but neither could admit it back then. Biden seemed awfully confident that a compromise would be reached.
After the Electoral College made it official, McConnell recognized Biden as President Elect in spite of Trump's protests. McConnell also encouraged all Republican Senators not to challenge the results on Jan. 6th when the Congress formally accepts the electoral votes from the states. While many Republican Congressmen will challenge the votes, they need the support of at least one Senator for the challenge to be recognized. Biden and McConnell now openly communicated on a compromise for COVID relief and it seems to be working. Trump will continue to protest, but so what.
I watched all of the videos. Is someone trying to rehabilitate Satan's reputation? The same man who, after watching the Affordable Care Act pass and become law, declared that his primary mission was to make Obama a one-term president? You know, the law the the public supports broadly and that has survived several dozens of attempts by the Republican party to overturn?
ReplyDeleteIs that first video with McConnell talking about negotiating with Obama vs. Biden supposed to show anything but McConnell's racism? That he can take a white man saying something to him, but when a black man is talking to him as an equal McConnell considers that black to be uppity and out of his place? No one outside of McConnell describes Obama as a pushy know-it-all. Everyone has always stated how Obama listens to all opinions in the room and actually solicits different opinions. Biden was Obama's vice-president. They had the same policies, the same agendas. Where was the bipartisan legislation that he negotiated with Biden during those 8 years? Anything of significance? Did Biden's relationship with McConnell get any of those appointments or judge positions through? Where was that beautiful Joe-Mitch relationship when Garland was being nominated?
There is no redeeming quality in Satan. He is being moved by the fact that people in Georgia are being put out of their homes and are standing in line at food banks just like the rest of the country. As Biden says, the country is headed over a cliff. People can wake up from rhetoric when their bellies are hurting from frank hunger. And they can vote democratic or just stay home.
I guess Trump is so much easier and more intelligent to talk to and so much better a negotiating partner.
ReplyDeleteBiden says that he tries to find common ground not change minds. That is the bases of the COVID relief package that is coming. Biden led the negotiations with McConnell during the 2010 Lame Duck Session. Progress was made because both sides had leverage. Before that the Republicans were just one vote away from losing the filibuster. The Republicans fought so hard because they were in a position of weakness.
ReplyDeleteBiden was the vice-president. He didn't offer anything that the president did not know about, didn't approve of, or didn't want to offer.
ReplyDeleteI find it odd to imply otherwise. With the ACA, Obama did everything to try to get Republican approval, including eliminate the public option.
The Lame Duck Session 2010
1. Tax cut compromise extending Bush tax cuts and extending unemployment insurance.
2. Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell
3. 9/11 First Responders Health and financial relief bill
4. New START treaty ratification
5. Food Safety Bill
THE ATLANTIC Dec. 22, 2010
"Democrats were moved to push forward aggressively on controversial legislation they'd punted on all year long...
In this they were joined by a handful of moderate Republicans who saw the lame duck as the last chance to move forward on key issues before a more financially and socially conservative Republicans majority in the House and an increased conservative minority in the Senate made such a move impossible. "
Hopefully there will be some moderate Republicans, like perhaps Romney, who want to get something done in this Congress.
It wasn't "what" Biden negotiated with the Republicans during the 2010 Lame Duck, but "how". As Obama's VP he had to maintain a low profile. Biden had leverage because the Republicans desperately wanted the tax cut extension, not because the moderate Republicans were afraid of the extremist. The extension of COVID relief in 2021 will depend on both sides getting something. But that depends on mutual respect. If one side believes that the other side is evil, then neither side will get anything.
DeleteObama had Biden deal with the Senate because Biden had a long history in the Senate and because he knew McConnell was a disrespectful racist and Obama thought he had better chances sending a white man to deal with him. Who has had more disrespect for a president than the republicans under McConnell during the Obama administration? Don't conflate issues; I say McConnell is the devil. Obama has been nothing but professional under the circumstances.
DeleteAgain, I don't know how it can be implied that the president does not know, is not involved, and does not approve of the manner that a negotiation with the Congress takes place. Biden did not have leverage; the Obama administration had leverage. Biden was the representative of the administration. As a white man, he could do that with more ease.
You are almost implying that Biden was a shadow president under Obama or that perhaps he should have been. I don't think Biden would characterize his time with Obama that way at all. Maybe McConnell isn't the only person with disrespect for Obama.
DeleteYou may disagree with McConnell's agenda, but it is hard to call him a racist when he is married to a Chinese American. There is a latent desire for bipartisanship. Biden has a chance to lead the movement.
DeleteRep. Joe Cunningham Cracks Open A Beer During Farewell Speech On House Floor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgenivjsVtA
It isn't hard to call him a racist when he is married to an Asian. If he was married to a black woman, I might reconsider. They might both be racist for all that I know. Asians can be racists also. I judge him on his actions and on his words.
DeleteJoe Cunningham is a DEMOCRAT calling for bipartisanship.
The desire for bipartisanship in the republican party is so latent as to be under hibernation. There aren't any republican beer drinking videos?
Enough said. I am finished. Take it away. I don't have time for it anymore.
The object of being a representative in Congress is not to win so that you can say that you won something, but to actually try to pass legislation that improves the living conditions of your constituents. It isn't to do your "time" so that you can get the lucrative consulting job in industry afterward. Or have industry fawning over you all the time while you are there in your lifetime position.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the only good thing about the election and at least the future two years is that the crazy guy with the machine boss mentality will not be president and will, thus, not be in a position to do us more harm. We will see what kind of president Joe Biden wants to be. Will he be one who goes to battle for progressive positions on issues or will he be one who starts negotiations with a compromise position? If the latter, he can go only downhill from there. He has shown or wants to look like that he favors diversity with his cabinet selections. And favoring diversity is, I believe, a good thing. But one result of some of his selections is to decrease the Democratic majority in the House to the point where a few Democrats with Manchin-like views may be in power (just as it seems that DINO Manchin may be the most powerful Senator for, at least, the next two years). I believe he could and should have chosen all cabinet members from outside the Congress and still present the same image. So, back to the beginning. We are (or will be) rid of Trump, but Biden may be limited to governing via executive orders for at least two years and there may be nothing in the way of progressive legislation for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, we are stuck with a Supreme Court majority that may wish (and will have the power) to impose their conservative religious ideology on us all. We've seen a few signs of that already, but it can get much worse. So, regardless of the Biden victory, I'm rather depressed about our future.
ReplyDelete