The Presidency of the Joes: more like INFRASTRUCTURE WEAK

This is a great issue for Klein to go all in on because his strength/weakness as a commentator is that he focuses on the wonky stuff. This is a great example of the wonky stuff being mission critical to the big picture stuff. Give 'em hell Ezra.

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It sounds good until you start counting votes.

You have to get Manchin, Feinstein and Sinema to vote to end the filibuster. Good luck. Their personal incentives (or whatever the fuck is going on in Feinstein’s mush bran) don’t align with the Party’s best interests.

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Yea, it’s railing against takes that don’t actually exist here.

It’s weird that nobody here is in favor of Biden’s policies, but there is a very vocal group who really hate when people so much as say what those policies are out loud. Strange.

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I posted and deleted last night that I was stunned 80% of the posters here were posting as if yesterday was the greatest day in US history. Mostly because I expect that out of my shitlib friends but not the people paying attention here.

I deleted because I think that is a bit too harsh. Yesterday was a day to celebrate but imo it has nothing to do with Biden and everything to do with narrowly avoiding the worst case scenerio. Seeing the BIDEN IS THE BEST GUY FOR THE JOB and ONLY BIDEN COULD WIN THE ELECTION and BIDEN IS A LOCK FOR TWO TERMS takes were stunning to me but I can only assume were because of the euphoria of ousting Donald Trump and I understand that and think it is a little unfair to go crazy bashing it.

As Chads/Micro have pointed out the real problems in this country are almost entirely the result of systematic inequality and oppression of poor and minorities and it is very unlikely to be much different than it was under Obama. Yes Biden will do better on Covid. Yes Biden will restore our national image. Yes Biden will be better on all of the presidential image things that Trump was horrible at. And those things do matter.

I just think our best case scenario is to basically return to where we were in 2016 by 2024. To be fair that would be a pretty monumental achievement considering where we are today. My fear is we need to go so much farther than that to really have any lasting impact or a chance of fading the worst case scenario next time.

Bobman’s vision of nibling around the edges are exactly how the Dems got smoked in 2010-2016 and led to Trump. Hopefully Biden and the Dems don’t repeat that mistake.

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You’ve been arguing forever that hitting manchin over the head with $ could be enough to get him to consider it. Diane is a cancer but appealing to her legacy, or lack of one if this doesn’t get done, might go a long way with a dinosaur’s way of thinking now that she’s near the end. No idea about the other sen, but making these people an offer they can’t refuse needs to be a priority.

If the Dems were serious about real change rather than their own power a good place to start would be term limits and campaign finance reform.

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Completely disingenuous and you know it. Terrible posting.

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I don’t think it’ll happen immediately. They probably need to get the GOP constantly blocking legislation that is popular with Manchin/Sinema voters and then hopefully they’ll fall in line. Feinstein needs to be retired, obviously.

So Biden fired more people on day 1 then trump fired in four years, allegedly.

I honestly believe Biden could be a LBJ type figure, a shockingly good President w/ questionable personal beliefs that finally gets massive liberal legislation through the gridlock.

Pristine personal beliefs are nice but results are what matter. Doesn’t matter that Bernie is better on Medicare for all because it would never get through the Senate. Hell, the shitlib Ds in the Senate would probably be right there with Mitch trying to tie up President Bernie with the filibuster… Is that Bernie’s fault? No… but would good does that do anybody?

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Ya it actually does matter that the leader of the country supports healthcare for all

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Bill supported Hillary’s effort to massively expand healthcare access in the early 90s, what good did that do anybody?

It is not disingenuous. I honestly do not understand where you come from, politically. I believe you when you say that you are in favor of progressive policies. But you certainly spend more time in this forum scolding the left than you do scolding moderates, and you certainly tend to pop up whenever someone goes too hard against moderates in the Dem party. There are probably a half dozen other posters who do the same.

Really, the reason I believe that you favor progressive policies is because you say that you do every time you come in to say how stupid the latest tweet making fun of Biden/Pete/etc is. I don’t recall you participating in any of the big discussions over policy - which isn’t to say you didn’t, but like (as an example) I know where Micro stands on immigration because he has described his thoughts on it and pushed back on people who think otherwise. I know where you stand on healthcare because you say “I support m4a” before arguing with people who criticize Biden for not supporting it.

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So you think Biden will get progressive legislation pushed through the Senate because he doesn’t support it, and Bernie would be unsuccessful because he does? Wtf are you talking about

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Thumbs up, but day two without Trump is still pretty great.

Nibbling around the edges is prolly the best we should expect. What is absurd to me is how people pretend we are the spokespeople for the Democratic party and if we type what we really want and think on this tiny forum we are doing some harm. It’s so absurd that it can’t be real. It’s just a demand for loyalty.

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You cannot get any progressive legislation through without getting rid of the filibuster. I believe Bernie would have been unable to get rid of the filibuster and not been able to pass any progressive legislation. It would have been rule by executive order.

I believe Joe will be able to get rid of the filibuster and be able to pass significant progressive legislation on areas where he and Bernie agree. Despite Joe’s reputation around here, I think that he will agree with Bernie on a surprising amount of progressive issues and pass historic landmark progressive legislation. Not nearly as progressive as if Bernie got to decide singlehandly, but I think Joe’s interpersonal relationships and moderate reputation make him a Trojan horse to do things that Bernie and Obama couldn’t do.

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I want to believe you.

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I’m probably naive but I think the GOP will try to work with Biden. When Obama was POTUS, it was easy to say no to the black guy and feed the racist base. Also, 1/6/21 scared the shit out of a lot of these guys. Pence and Mitch were legit shook.

Why isn’t everyone in her office screaming at her non stop to change her positions? I assume just about everyone doing political work in CA for a D is decently left. They gotta know they’re working for the most embarrassing politician in the country now that Trump is gone.

Like is everyone around her trying to get her to change her positions and she’s still refusing? Or are they all gutless?

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