When I was growing up, my dad stressed the importance of always being united as a family when facing adversity or when one member is wrongly or rightly attacked.
This is a theme most families and successful groups and movements in history have adhered to.
Democrats like Joe Manchin, and to a far lesser extent, Bernie Sanders, apparently missed that familial and political lesson.
On the Sunday talk shows on September 12, 2021, both Manchin (As fellow writer AZ Blue Meanie has alluded to, is someone who really likes to be the center of attention on television) and Sanders appeared, offering their visions of both the budget reconciliation passage and the timing of passing it along with (or separately) from the bipartisan Senate Infrastructure deal that went to the House of Representatives in August.
Please click below to see the exchanges on ABC.
The World According to Manchin.
Mr. Manchin wants a smaller bill cost-wise with means-testing for social net programs (which may not be the most terrible idea if done properly and does not, as Paul Waldman noted, dissuade the people that actually need it from completing the paperwork,) and climate change provisions that do not cripple West Virginia (and probably his personal) interests.
He also wants to pass the physical Infrastructure bill, where his state has tremendous needs, separately from the Reconciliation one, claiming that the first one is urgent whereas the human infrastructure one in the reconciliation legislation is not given there are still proceeds from the American Rescue Plan that have not been released yet. Manchin also said that there are still unknown factors given the Delta Variant of the Coronavirus and a "strategic pause" may be necessary.
He also expressed worry about the national debt, forgetting (as the commentators on the Sunday talk shows pointed out) that the reconciliation bill is paid for.
Washington Post Columnist James Downie may have had the best reaction to Manchin's performance on the Sunday talk shows in an editorial called "Joe Manchin's Selfishness."
In it, Mr. Downie noted:
"...the theme remains the same: Manchin gets his, while everyone else can fend for themselves...Sticking to the two-track path is the best chance to ensure that not only does Manchin gets his, but also all Americans get theirs."
The World According to Sanders.
Mr. Sanders sees things differently from the Conservative Democrat from West Virginia. He rightly says that progressives have already compromised by coming down from their original asking price of six trillion dollars for the budget reconciliation proposal to $3.5 trillion.
The Vermont Senator and twice Presidential Candidate is also reluctant, given Mr. Manchin's (and to a lesser extent Senator Kyrsten Sinema's) propensity, despite their overall voting records, to verbally bait and switch on what they will agree on, to untether the reconciliation legislation from the bipartisan infrastructure one.
Moving Forward
Now if this scene between Manchin and Sanders on September 12, 2021, seems familiar to most readers, it is because similar dramas played out during the negotiations for the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure legislation.
Even Sanders in the ABC interview said that the prospects for a deal were very good and likely to happen as negotiations occur behind the scenes and drapes of CNN, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC.
One wonders whether politicians feel the people relish the political theater they put them through before the final deal is concluded.
Here is a news flash.
They do not.
People want to see actions and accomplishments, not moaning and posturing on the Sunday talk shows (which most of them do not watch.)
Now everyone should realize and acknowledge that what is politically feasible for a Senator in New York or Vermont could be potentially harder to swallow in purple or red states like Arizona and West Virginia.
That said, most if not all the proposals contained in the Democrats budget reconciliation plan like home care, Universal Pre K, and free community college are popular with the American People, including those in Arizona and West Virginia. Democrats including Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin would be politically foolish to ignore that.
There is also a poll conducted by Axios and No Labels (a centrist organization) that shows support for Manchin's "strategic pause" which sounds reasonable but the West Virginia Senator himself would not say what time frame that pause was supposed to be in the Sunday talk shows. He seemed more fixated on a bill less than $3.5 trillion (do not be surprised if the final price tag is somewhere between $1.5 to $2 trillion) and means-testing.
Democrats should cut the crap with the political theater on the Sunday talk shows by airing the family's dirty linen out in the open, and work together to get a budget deal completed that helps the American People and moves the country forward.
This is a time for public service and helping others, not Prima Donnas showing off and scoring political points at the expense of other members of the family on Meet the Press.
Get the job done.
Pass both the infrastructure and reconciliation bills.
On a personal note, I wanted to acknowledge this day (September 13) is the 109th birthday of my maternal grandmother Sylvia Pitto Alizio LaSasso.
My grandmother helped my parents raise me and today is the day where I most remember all she did for me growing up and my charter school when it existed.
I miss you, Nonna.
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