During the Democratic primary and the election, Jennifer Rubin writes, the media consistently underestimated Joe Biden. This weekend his COVID rescue plan passed the Senate. Much has been made of the lack of bipartisan support for the plan. But it depends on how you define bipartisan support:
The president pushed aside repeated media chiding that he was not being bipartisan enough. In fact, as he observed in a victory lap speech on Saturday, “without the overwhelming bipartisan support of the American people, this would not have happened.” He continued, “Overwhelming public support — every public opinion poll shows overwhelming support for this plan. And for the last weeks, it’s shown that. Every public opinion poll shows the people want this, they believe it’s needed, and they believe it’s urgent.” Bipartisanship, the administration maintained, was not found in capitulating to Republicans whose paltry $650 billion plan failed to grasp the magnitude of the dual economic and health threats. Bipartisanship was achieved in meeting the needs of Americans who are eager for active government.
Biden faces huge challenges ahead. There will be a lot of heavy lifting. But the president and his team are focusing on citizens, not members of congress -- and that has advantages:
The Biden team’s focus allowed them to woo back into line moderate Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who might irrationally deny a qualified woman of color a Cabinet spot or seek the limelight in holding up the deal to lower the unemployment subsidy from $400 to $300. Frustration is kept behind closed doors; the eyes of Biden’s colleagues are invariably on making the most important deal when the chips are down.
Donald Trump claimed to know the Art Of the Deal. Four years proved that he knew nothing about making deals. The only thing he understood was self-interest -- the kind of self-interest that gave him a COVID vaccination long before anyone else in the country got one. Biden knows how to make deals. And this success can lead to more successes:
Success builds on success. As Biden turns to items such as infrastructure, Republicans may feel more pressure to end their reflexive obstruction. One wonders if having bet against an overwhelmingly popular rescue plan, swing-district and swing-state Republicans want to keep turning up their noses at the very economic populism they insist they support. In the 1930s, disaster struck and metastasized on the Republicans’ watch; now, similarly, the GOP may find out that opposition to vigorous governmental action is a political loser that may keep them out of power until memories of their gross mismanagement fade.
It's too soon to reach any conclusions. But the Republicans could be out of power for a generation.
Image: Forbes.com
