For Biden and His Democrats, a Crucial Month Lies Ahead - Seib
Gerald Seib is the non-rabid political columnist of the WSJ
(snip)
Presidencies ebb and flow; look up Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to see proof of that. Mr. Biden is only about to begin the second of four years. Still, it’s hard to imagine a worse stretch than the one the president endured last week... In many ways, the road starts with progress against the coronavirus. “Covid just hangs over everything,” says Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell. Democrats can hope that expert predictions that the Omicron variant soon will peak, and will remain less lethal than its predecessors, are borne out—but hope isn’t a policy. What some Democrats are looking for are more steps to end embarrassingly long lines for Covid-19 tests, and continued federal moves to help stressed hospitals.
Meantime, inflation is emerging as a problem almost as insidious as Covid-19. One of the reasons inflation is so politically damaging is that it is felt by literally every American. Only some are unemployed, and only some may see their wages stagnate, but everybody feels inflation... But what can be done, some Democrats argue, is to move aggressively and visibly to shrink the supply-chain bottlenecks creating the shortages that fuel inflation. “There has to be an energetic response to the supply chain crisis and the lack of production,” says Rep. Ro Khanna of California. “Every day we ought to be talking about what we can do to increase the supply, the goods…. This is actually bipartisan.”
That kind of effort could take many forms. More federal help to end backlogs at ports. A summit meeting with trucking companies to explore ways to help them attract and keep drivers. A House vote to fund the CHIPS Act, legislation designed to boost domestic production of the semiconductors that all sorts of manufacturers find in short supply. That would be a long-term rather than a short-term solution, but it remains a mystery why the House has yet to vote to fund chip legislation.
Most Democrats also hope to revive, in smaller form, the Build Back Better legislation. As originally constructed, that bill proved to be an overreach, trying to enact in one fell swoop more social and climate programs than Democrats had the votes to actually pass. Yet walking away from the effort would mean Democrats would walk away from plans to help parents and working families that most in the party consider core to the party’s identity. “We need to figure out a strategy for BBB,” says Rep. Dingell. That would require Democratic progressives to park their anger at West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, whose opposition spelled doom for the original legislation. Though he’s angry at the White House for publicly blaming him for the legislation’s downfall, Mr. Manchin appears prepared to work with other congressional Democrats on a smaller package.
(snip)
The battle over voting rights now may move from Washington out into the states, where Democrats are paying the price for years of insufficient attention. Oh, and one other thing some Democrats are seeking: Less talk about what hasn’t happened, and more about what has been done, including a giant Covid-19 relief package and bipartisan infrastructure legislation last year.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-biden-and-his-democrats-a-crucial-month-lies-ahead-11642431811 (subscription)
= new reply since forum marked as read
