The Democrats Should Blame Themselves, Not Joe Manchin
Bill Clinton’s example of success after legislative defeat is not one progressives are interested in learning from. Let’s see if throwing tantrums works instead.
Maybe he knows something his party’s progressives don’t.
Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The Democrats should have listened to Joe Manchin. As their “Build Back Better” agenda assumed legislative shape, the Democratic senator from West Virginia kept telling them what he didn’t like about it.
On Nov. 1, he decried the bill’s “shell games” and “budget gimmicks” and called it “a recipe for economic crisis.” He wanted to set up and fully pay for a few programs for 10 years. The bill House Democrats passed sets up more programs, but for only a few years; after that, the Democrats were counting on political pressure to get them extended, and maybe paid for. They appeared to think Manchin’s conditions were just a negotiating position — even after he said that he would be comfortable if no bill at all got passed.