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brooklynite

(93,870 posts)
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:00 AM Mar 2023

Biden's center pivot.

Wake Up To Politics

“Three’s a trend,” journalists like to say. Well, Monday made four notable moves by President Joe Biden towards the ideological center, so it’s officially a pattern worth taking note of. They are:

1. His recent budget request, which proposed nearly $3 trillion in deficit reduction, not traditionally a liberal priority.
2. His endorsement of a Republican bill blocking a new D.C. criminal code, which blindsided congressional Democrats.
3. His “Trump-esque” changes to the immigration system, which will severely curtail access to asylum, and his consideration of restarting migrant family detention.
5. His approval on Monday of the Willow Project, a major oil drilling project in Alaska opposed by environmentalists.

Together, these moves suggest Biden is moving towards a re-election campaign — and preparing to target moderate and independent voters, seeking to remind them of his centrist roots.

38 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Biden's center pivot. (Original Post) brooklynite Mar 2023 OP
No doubt. bucolic_frolic Mar 2023 #1
"Pivot." WhiskeyGrinder Mar 2023 #2
Yup Cuthbert Allgood Mar 2023 #22
I knew you'd be thrilled. BannonsLiver Mar 2023 #32
I don't believe it, I don't think Biden is calculating according to voting patterns Walleye Mar 2023 #3
Agree Johnny2X2X Mar 2023 #4
Exactly, I couldn't have said it better myself Walleye Mar 2023 #6
And liberal presidents ALWAYS address deficit reduction. Hortensis Mar 2023 #23
He needed ammunition for the right wingers / drillers to not nail him for rising energy costs. dsp3000 Mar 2023 #26
I think there's more to it than that Johnny2X2X Mar 2023 #27
1. 3 trillion made up by taxing rich, 2. Booker & Duckworth voted against DC Bill, 3. Asylum laws .. uponit7771 Mar 2023 #5
That last sentence is important and correct Walleye Mar 2023 #7
His new COS is driving this WhiteTara Mar 2023 #8
Agree with this completely. I think we're unfortunately already seeing bullwinkle428 Mar 2023 #10
yes, I said the exact same thing on another thread, spot on Celerity Mar 2023 #37
Smart, and MUCH, MUCH better than having ANY possible GOP president! tableturner Mar 2023 #9
I agree pinkstarburst Mar 2023 #13
6. In order to heal the nation no charges will be filed against the former president. nt Hotler Mar 2023 #11
Not going to happen, at least from Biden, there will be no pardon if trump is indicted and convicted JohnSJ Mar 2023 #15
Saying that "deficit reduction is not a traditional liberal priority"... Wounded Bear Mar 2023 #12
That so-called surge is an illusion. JohnSJ Mar 2023 #16
He has to. Unless Democrats turnout by at least 75%, he has to. JohnSJ Mar 2023 #14
You really think Republicans will vote for him? Autumn Mar 2023 #17
No, but independents are now the largest voting bloc in many states Amishman Mar 2023 #18
Democrats carried Biden to victory in 2020. Dems would be better off courting the young voters. Autumn Mar 2023 #20
Millennials and Gen Z are on track to equal Boomers and above in 2024 in terms of actual votes Celerity Mar 2023 #38
Independents will. quaint Mar 2023 #19
You sure? I'm not sure he will get them by moving to the middle. Autumn Mar 2023 #21
Article (and polls) over a year old and before the death of Roe. quaint Mar 2023 #29
The Independents broke for Joe because they didn't like Trump. You think they are going to go Autumn Mar 2023 #30
Wow! No, I think they'll go for Democrats. quaint Mar 2023 #31
Wake Up To Politics a reputable news source? Emile Mar 2023 #24
WUTP is a political newsletter done by a Georgetown University student.... brooklynite Mar 2023 #34
So it's not a news source, just another blog pushing one persons view. Emile Mar 2023 #35
Based on factual evidence. brooklynite Mar 2023 #36
those are relatively tangential actions bigtree Mar 2023 #25
Centrist centrist centrist blah blah blah. betsuni Mar 2023 #28
What a crock of shit. W_HAMILTON Mar 2023 #33

bucolic_frolic

(42,676 posts)
1. No doubt.
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:04 AM
Mar 2023

Grabbing the other side's thunder is traditional strategy. If Biden grabs the political middle voters, the GOP is done. Or we can hope so.

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
4. Agree
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:21 AM
Mar 2023

His budget was very progressive and laid out Dem priorities well.

Biden is strategic with an aim at delivering the most possible for working Americans. The Willow drilling project is a little puzzling given his stellar record so far on climate, but there will be some strategic benefits to it for sure. Biden does nothing without including the working class, so there must be something in the Willow project that was part of a bargain.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
23. And liberal presidents ALWAYS address deficit reduction.
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 10:46 AM
Mar 2023

That one of the three points is simply NOT true. When the Republicans have control they always grow the deficit enormously, forcing action by Democrats.

After H.W. Bush had hidden the desperate straits the Republicans had brought the government to, in the process of transferring most of the wealth to the wealthy that was needed to enact the agenda Bill Clinton was elected on, Clinton was hit on taking office with an enormous budget crisis and had to set aside important progressive goals to focus on bringing us back from that Republican-engineered brink. Nixon/Ford - Carter? W. Bush - Obama? tRump - Biden?

This pattern has become the norm.

dsp3000

(469 posts)
26. He needed ammunition for the right wingers / drillers to not nail him for rising energy costs.
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 11:00 AM
Mar 2023

Willow is it.

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
27. I think there's more to it than that
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 11:02 AM
Mar 2023

Perhaps this is part of a deal to get more progressive laws passed, or maybe payment for ones he's already signed into law.

Biden has delivered more for the Left than any President since LBJ or FDR, he deserves the benefit of the doubt and then some.

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
5. 1. 3 trillion made up by taxing rich, 2. Booker & Duckworth voted against DC Bill, 3. Asylum laws ..
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:21 AM
Mar 2023

... being proposed are fair 4. Willow approval was done under Trump and BLM allowed scaled down version after lawsuit.

Shit kicking article, people who didn't vote for Biden even in the center would never know about any of those issues.
l
There's no "moderate" voter pool big enough to be targeted

WhiteTara

(29,676 posts)
8. His new COS is driving this
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:25 AM
Mar 2023

I think. Klain was a friend of progressive thought and this guy is a fixer. Sad

bullwinkle428

(20,626 posts)
10. Agree with this completely. I think we're unfortunately already seeing
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:28 AM
Mar 2023

the effects of Ron Klain's departure.

JohnSJ

(91,962 posts)
15. Not going to happen, at least from Biden, there will be no pardon if trump is indicted and convicted
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 10:02 AM
Mar 2023

Whether trump actually gets indicted will be up to the DOJ, and Biden has made it clear he will NOT interfere the actions of the DOJ

Wounded Bear

(58,440 posts)
12. Saying that "deficit reduction is not a traditional liberal priority"...
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:33 AM
Mar 2023

is a right wing talking point adopted by the Main $tream Media. Certainly, we're not obsessed over it, but the statement implies that liberals, and thus Dems, are profligate spenders with no concerns for deficits or debt.

Not true. Dems tend to try to help people through government action, but their spending proposals come with the means to pay for them. Dems are just not afraid to raise taxes to do what is necessary in the public sphere.

I don't mind a slight "centrist" shift in policies after a pretty successful porgressive surge over the last couple of years.

Amishman

(5,541 posts)
18. No, but independents are now the largest voting bloc in many states
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 10:14 AM
Mar 2023

I'm seeing a fair bit of alignment on Joe's approach and courting indies

Autumn

(44,762 posts)
20. Democrats carried Biden to victory in 2020. Dems would be better off courting the young voters.
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 10:25 AM
Mar 2023
Around a third of registered voters in the U.S. (34%) identify as independents, while 33% identify as Democrats and 29% identify as Republicans, according to a Center analysis of Americans’ partisan identification based on surveys of more than 12,000 registered voters in 2018 and 2019.

Most independents in the U.S. lean toward one of the two major parties. When taking independents’ partisan leanings into account, 49% of all registered voters either identify as Democrats or lean to the party, while 44% identify as Republicans or lean to the GOP.


https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/26/what-the-2020-electorate-looks-like-by-party-race-and-ethnicity-age-education-and-religion/



Celerity

(42,666 posts)
38. Millennials and Gen Z are on track to equal Boomers and above in 2024 in terms of actual votes
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 09:35 PM
Mar 2023
not just eligible voters.


Add in the Xennial aka Carter Babies (born 1977 to 1980) micro gen and we should pass them with ease, again in terms of votes cast, not just eligible voters.

Also we are vastly more Democratic in our voting patterns than the older gens (especially Boomers and up, but now, worryingly starting to include older Gen Xers). We helped turbocharge the 2018 Blue Wave, were a key factor in Biden's 2020 win, and helped turn the Red Wave into a puddle splash in 2022.

18 to 34 year olds support Biden as the nominee in 2024 by a net 48 points HIGHER than the older Gen Xers and the younger Boomers in an A- rated poll from a couple weeks ago.

So we had all better care if we start tacking too hard to the centre (ie. moving to right from the stances of the past 2 years) and supporting too many things that the younger gens are solidly against.

Autumn

(44,762 posts)
21. You sure? I'm not sure he will get them by moving to the middle.
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 10:31 AM
Mar 2023
Although the number of truly independent swing voters has declined over the past half century, they can still provide the margin between electoral victory and defeat at a time when the two party coalitions are so closely balanced. And after moving toward Democrats in the 2018 and 2020 elections largely because of their distaste for Donald Trump, independents are now giving Biden job ratings in both state and national polls nearly as low as they ever provided Trump.

Independents “swung heavily against Republicans in 2018 and 2020 because they hated Donald Trump,” says Dick Wadhams, the former Republican state chair in Colorado. “Now these same unaffiliated voters are looking at the guy in the White House, Democrats in Congress, Democrats in the state legislatures, and I don’t think they like what they see.”

Still, most strategists in both parties agree it will take time, and sustained real world gains on inflation and the pandemic, for Biden to climb out of the hole he’s fallen into with independents, especially because so many of them say in recent polls that they do not consider him a strong leader. While Biden still has time to recover among them by 2024, Republican pollster Glen Bolger says the President faces much longer odds of a significant rebound before November’s midterm elections. Over that time frame, Bolger argues, “it’s hard for independents to move from where they are to even a mixed rating of the guy.”

Given the tightening correlation between voter attitudes about the president and their choices in House and Senate races, that’s a daunting prospect for Democrats. Their best chance of avoiding a wipeout among independents this fall may revolve less around improving their view of Biden than rekindling their doubts about Republicans – particularly their ties to Trump.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/politics/biden-polling-independents/index.html

Autumn

(44,762 posts)
30. The Independents broke for Joe because they didn't like Trump. You think they are going to go
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 11:49 AM
Mar 2023

for Republicans because of Roe in 2024?

brooklynite

(93,870 posts)
34. WUTP is a political newsletter done by a Georgetown University student....
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 12:57 PM
Mar 2023

....BUT he's been doing this since he was in High School, documents everything, and has tens of thousands of followers. He's also done a podcast in conjunction with St. Louis Public Radio.

Homework? First I Need to Get to the Bottom of This Comey Story

ST. LOUIS — It’s 7:32 on a recent Wednesday morning, and Gabe Fleisher is racing to put the finishing touches on his daily newsletter, Wake Up to Politics. It’s been a busy 24-hour news cycle. “Another day, another bombshell,” the newsletter begins.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, reports emerged that James Comey, the fired F.B.I. director, had written an internal memo suggesting that, in a private meeting with President Trump, the president had asked him to end the agency’s investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. “I hope you can let this go,” Mr. Trump reportedly said to Mr. Comey. In the wake of this disclosure, the newsletter recounts, some Democrats in Congress were using the words “obstruction of justice” and even “impeachment.” Meanwhile, the big story from the day before — that Mr. Trump may have shared classified information with Russian officials during a White House visit — continues to roil Washington.

It’s a lot to digest and cogently explain. But a deadline is quickly approaching, and it’s not just the one concerning the more than 2,000 subscribers who expect their Wake Up briefing to appear in their email inboxes just after 8 a.m. each weekday. More urgent is that, in about 13 minutes, Gabe’s ride to school will show up.

For Gabe Fleisher is not a Washington pundit or a producer for CNN, but a 15-year-old freshman at a St. Louis high school.

The free newsletter, which he has been writing in some form since he was 8, is a surprisingly sophisticated, well-researched summary of the day’s political news. It counts among its subscribers Gene B. Sperling, contributing editor at The Atlantic; the MSNBC anchor Steve Kornacki; Major Garrett, chief White House correspondent for CBS News; the “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. (who on Twitter called Wake Up “one of the best political newsletters to hit my inbox”); the “Game Change” co-author Mark Halperin; and Jim VandeHei, the founder of Axios and a founder of Politico — as well as reporters for The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, many of whom are among Gabe’s nearly 5,000 Twitter followers. (Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, is also a follower.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/style/gabe-fleisher-wake-up-to-politics-newsletter.html


All of the bullet points contain citation links.

bigtree

(85,918 posts)
25. those are relatively tangential actions
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 10:59 AM
Mar 2023

...the bulk of Pres. Biden's record, so far, is decidedly progressive, along with the party.

The 'deficit reduction' point is misleading, as his budget calls for raising taxes on those earning over 400k which is as historically progressive as you can get on a budget proposal.

Moreover, previously, only Democratic administrations have reduced the deficit, Clinton's and Obama's.

W_HAMILTON

(7,813 posts)
33. What a crock of shit.
Tue Mar 14, 2023, 12:32 PM
Mar 2023

A lot of the deficit reduction is from RAISING ADDITIONAL TAXES ON THE RICH, which is a "traditionally liberal priority."

And if anyone thinks deficit reduction is a conservative priority, check the deficits that Republican presidents have inherited and then look at the deficit they left their Democratic successors. I think you have to go back to around the Eisenhower era to find a Republican president that left the country in better fiscal shape than what they inherited. Talking is much different than doing.

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