"Buuuttt, Mannn-chinnn...": The Democrats Revisit Their Valley Of Learned Helplessness

 

<https://americasbestpics.com/>

Gee, you think they'll somehow 

scrape up the nerve? Time will tell, we suppose.

<i.>

Joe Manchin has the heart of a deep freezer, and the soul of a refrigerator. Last week, West Virginia's nominally Democratic Senator stomped his wing-tipped feet in a fit of pique. On his way out, he thundered: "No way, no how, am I votin' for that Better Build Back thingie o'Biden's, 'cause those limp-wristed rev-en-ooo-ers can't whip us into submission, if y'all think greed should have limits."

OK, I took some dramatic liberties with the last sentence. It's hard to imagine those words ("greed should have limits") escaping the Wolf of West Virginia's ever-moving lips, let alone his ever-changing moods. Actually, he could saved us all the drama and said, "Merry Christmas, America. I got mine. I still do. F#ck you all."

Otherwise, he'd have to admit how well greed works for him, not to mention his soulless, avaricious brood -- whether it's the son, Joe Manchin IV (Roman numeral obligatory) who'll inherit the coal company that's made them all filthy rich, or the equally entitled daughter, Heather Bresch, whose chief legacy will be the relentless jackup of Epi-Pen prices. Need more depressing facts? The Fact Keepers link (below) will do the job nicely. You've been warned.

At any rate, Machin's piss 'n' vinegar display sent shock waves through the Democratic wading pool, when he announced his refusal to support Biden's horribly titled $1.75 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) bill. (Wouldn't "Build America Better" or "Rebuild America Now" have been sufficient?) So much for the notion that if you just baby him long enough, he'll come around. 

Manchin seems happy to forever play the eternal spoiler, the prodigal son who never commits to returning home. For those who support them, measures like the extension of the child tax credit, or the primitive paid leave proposal (Four weeks? Really?) are dead in the water, figuratively and literally, as the $10 Million Country Boy preaches the Gospel of Austerity from the safety of his 65-foot houseboat. 

The situation reached surreal heights during Vice President Kamala Harris's recent interview with Charlamagne Tha God, on Comedy Central. "So who's the real president of this country, is it Joe Manchin or Joe Biden?"  Charlamagne asked, adding, "I can't tell sometimes."

That seems like a reasonable question to pose, given the outsized influence Manchin loves to exert against our democracy, and the attention it brings him. Needless to say, though, the question evoked a snappish response from the Vice President. "No, no, no, no. It's Joe Biden. And don't start talking like a Republican about asking whether or not he's president."

Poor Ms. Harris. I imagine that she assumed that she'd signing up for a fair amount of weirdness, but nothing on this scale. All I can say is, as a writer -- you couldn't make up any of this stuff if you tried.

<"I'm H.P. Lovecraft, 

And I Approved This Message":

   Take II/The Reckoner>

Sad, isn't it? All I had to do was 

change the year, and it's right up to date. Ah, well.

<ii.>

Not to worry, though. The Democratic leadership act like they always do, once the latest crisis drops: they wring their heads, clutch their pearls, and let those season's bleatings begin...

<"Buuuttt -- Mannn-

chinn...">

Leadership then dutifully bows and scrapes to King Joe, hoping that somehow, they'll stumble on the secret sauce that finally melts His Arbitrariness's freeze-dried heart. Of course, it's bound to fail. Think back to your high school days, watching the socially awkward guy doggedly courting the beauty queen, hoping for at least 15 minutes of her time, if not an actual date (God forbid).

Week after gut-wrenching week, the butterfly mating dance would unfold, and if Mr. Awkward didn't give up the chase right away, Her Majesty would have to grow ever more creative in fobbing off his unwanted attentions. Excuses might range from faux shows of concern ("I like you better as a friend"), to over-programming ("I have to finish my geometry homework as I'm squeezing into my dress"), to sheer piffle ("I'm washing my hair that night, I think").

Whatever excuse Her Majesty dropped, it required an Academy Award-style acting to pull off. If it worked, Mr. Awkward might feel that she'd taken his wishes into account, without bruising his self-esteem. If it didn't? Mr. Awkward would eventually suss it out, waiting for the call that wouldn't come, while Her Majesty went out with the date of her choice.

Come Monday morning, both parties would warily pass each other in the hallway,  starting straight ahead, in the high school version of "don't ask, don't tell." Neither would party would say a word, nor lock eyes on each other, ever again. 

How do I know? Because I was that guy, and she did mutter something about having to wash her hair. So it goes with high school royalty, and so it goes with Joe Manchin.

<A 2022 Democratic Campaign Ad

That Won't Make The Cut...

The Reckoner>

<iii.>

Status quo supporters beg to differ. You can't bust Joe Manchin's chops too righteously, they insist, because he'll switch parties in a heartbeat. Otherwise, you'll kiss off that fiftieth vote in that 50-50 deadlocked Senate. Bye-bye, Build Back Better, and its array of policy initiatives now circling that 50-50 drain, along with them. 

But there's a few problems with swallowing that narrative, starting with the obvious: rank and file Democrats might do the equally unthinkable, and stay home from next fall's midterms. That'll suck for the rest of us, especially those who worry about the creeping fascism that the Republican Party brand increasingly represents.

Yet why does the Republican base stick so fiercely by its Dear Leader, Herr Trump, or Southern fried acolytes like Governor Greg Abbot, or Ron De Santis? Well, there's the possibility of achieving permanent one-party minority rule, for starters, that many right wingers seemingly crave. Not to mention the nightmarish hat trick of three Supreme Court picks, and the 2017 tax overhaul that made the rich so much richer. 

In short, Trump gave his true believers what they wanted, if he could muscle the votes to do it. If not, he signed an executive order, or temporarily appointed someone to fill a vacancy, and avoid Congressional scrutiny. Not that these are admirable steps, particularly, but they showed Trump's willingness to fight for his priorities (such as they were).

In contrast, the Democrats treat their voters with a contempt that's eerily similar to Colonel Tom Parker's milking of Elvis's fan base during his twilight years. That era, for those who didn't suffer it, is best remembered for its shameless recycling of previously released material, and gimmicky ploys like Having Fun With Elvis Onstage (1974), which offered 37 minutes of between-song banter -- minus the songs themselves. For completists only, as they say.

The only problem is that this approach, at a certain point, leaves the string puller starving at the box office. Imagine yourself as a Democratic Congressman, trying to explain why your party didn't deliver any of its priorities -- extending the child care tax credit, free community college, funding for disability care, including dental, hearing and vision coverage included in Medicaid, negotiating prescription drug prices, and oh, voting rights -- and why they should re-elect you, despite diminishing returns.

Depending on the surliness of the crowd, you may escape with mere four-letter barrages, or duck the odd rotten tomato or two. But dropping the standard alibi ("Buuuttt Mannn-chinnn...") as your get out of jail free card won't help much. Because without results, people start tuning out the message, if not the messenger.

<Another Democratic Midterm 2022 Ad

That Won't Make The Cut...We Hope:

The Reckoner>

<iv.>

So what can be done? Well, in my book, more than mainstream Democrats and their media enablers seem to think. Start with the obvious, as Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer has already threatened to do: vote on Build Back Better, anyway, as it currently exists. 

If Manchin really opposes the child care credit, or paid leave -- because he believes the poor will spend that money on drugs, or play hooky to go hunting, as he's respectively insisted, behind closed doors -- let him explain why he holds such downright fucked-up views. Better yet, let him do it in front of the TV cameras whose attention he so self-righteously craves.

Maybe his refrigerator soul will hold firm, or maybe not. But if you don't push back, you'll never find out. Let him also tell the West Virginians he claims to love so much -- who rank at the bottom of any positive category -- why they can't keep the child tax credit, or paid leave. Unless they're making them up, most polls show broad public support for those two priorities, and varying degrees for the rest.

But it's nothing that President Biden couldn't overcome, if he gave more than a few speeches here or there, with reinforcement from progressive voices like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A national speaking blitz would provide a powerful antidote to a mainstream media preoccupied by tales of Democratic dysfunction. "It's not some crazy left-wing wish list," as Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal succintly put it, earlier this fall.

Even so, as leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Jayapal compounded the error by agreeing to de-link Build Back Better from the smaller, competing Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) bill that the Senate has already passed. It was the last card progressives had left to play, yet they traded away it for...what, exactly? A lot of vague promises from Biden, Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Manchin would come around.

He wouldn't, and he didn't. For progressives, the lesson is painful, but all too obvious: bad actors stay bad actors, unless they have good reason to change their behavior. The anger that Manchin and his ideological twin from Arizona, Krysten Sinema, voiced when the House initially refused to unlink the bills, spoke volumes. It proved the strategy of getting them to "yes" was working. But those brief hopes evaporated, once progressives backtracked. That can't, and shouldn't, happen again.

But Democrats should not write off the power of public opinion, nor back down on insisting that Manchin come clean about he wants, especially after they've made so many concessions -- like drastically cutting BBB from its original $3.5 trillion target -- to woo him, without effect. Jayapal's recent suggestion of handing Manchin a pen, and asking him to cross out what he can't support, is a good start. But it won't mean anything if leadership lets Manchin wriggle off the hook. I also like her other suggestion, of Biden exploring what elements he can sign into law through executive orders. If Obama and Trump can wield a "phone and a pen," why not Biden?

Progressive Democrats also need to master the long game, something their Kentucky nemesis, Mitch McConnell, has already proven adept at gaming to benefit his crowd. But it'll take a major leadership change to flip that script. Pelosi and her chief lieutenants, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, all of whom are north of 80, should have retired after last fall's debacle that saw the Democrats lose 13 seats.

Schumer should also have retired last fall, following a record spending blitz of $1.1 billion that failed to accomplish its goal of taking back the Senate. That's not surprising, since most of his picks crash and burn -- except for Sinema, who's also undoing much of the Democratic agenda.

That Schumer groomed her as a candidate only makes last fall's failure more excruciating, and proof positive that it's time for someone else to make the picks. It's even more painful, when you consider Pelosi has already broken her promise to retire, so she can run for re-election. Such a move only demonstrates her own selfishness, when the party has many young progressive thinkers -- like Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Ayanna Pressley, and AOC, to name a few -- who could, and should, move into leadership roles. 

Still, the rank and file should maintain the pressure to find new leadership, particularly if the Republican bloodbath materializes next year. Progressives also need to consider how they want those leadership roles to change, if (or when) they move into them. Legislative leaders should serve as more than mere telemarketers-in-chief, to cite the most glaring failure of Pelosi's and Schumer's leadership model -- one that's often left a policy vacuum, that big donors are all too happy to fill.

None of these steps will be easy, and none of them will be convenient. In fact, most of them will likely feel downright painful, at least in the short run. That goes without saying. But the reality is that progress often comes at a painful cost, typically when someone proves willing to inconvenience themselves to achieve it.

Where would we be, I wonder, if Martin Luther King had invoked a similar excuse ("But, Thurrr-monnnd...") to postpone his March on Washington? Or if Lech Walesa had gone back to lunch at the shipyard ("But, Mosss-cowww..."), and rallied his co-workers to fight for a better tomorrow?

As my sister has pointed out, during our many talks about the state of our political affairs, "Why does anybody care about Joe Manchin? He only has the power that you give him." I couldn't have said it better myself. The sooner Democrats come to that realization, the sooner they purge that ugly phrase ("Buuuttt Mannn-chinnn...")  from their vocabulary, get on with the business of governing, and do something that the faithful haven't seen from them do in a long time -- deliver. Time will tell when it happens, but if it does, the feeling won't be hard to miss. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (FFS, Someone Please

Strip The Crown Off This Wannabe King):

Down With Tyranny:
Midnight Meme Of The Day:
Smirking Joe Manchin Welcomes Our Hatred:
https://www.downwithtyranny.com/post/midnight-meme-of-the-day-smirking-joe-manchin-welcomes-our-hatred

[I linked this mainly for the cartoon featured here -- it certainly fits our theme!]

Fact Keepers: For Joe Manchin,

Greed And Corruption Are A Family Affair:
https://factkeepers.com/for-joe-manchin-corruption-and-greed-are-a-family-affair/

The Guardian: Stop Calling Joe Manchin

"Moderate" -- He's Just A Greedy Reactionary:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/09/stop-calling-joe-manchin-moderate-greedy-reactionary

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

A Broken America Should Build A Monument

To Joe Manchin's Massive Ego*:
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/joe-manchin-power-greed-ego-20210916.html 

The Washington Post:
Manchin's Rebuff Of Build Back Better
Is The Latest Failure Of Democrats Playing Soft*:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/19/manchin-build-back-better-oppose-democrats-playing-soft/

[*Paywalled, so plan your workarounds accordingly...]