Biden, bipartisanship, and the January 6 attack
I just read the transcript of Biden’s address on the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, which has gotten generally favorable reviews. I thought the speech highlighted an inconsistency in Biden’s approach to politics that has served him poorly.
Biden has emphasized bringing the country together, working with Republicans, and returning the country to “normal”. This was obviously never going to happen. Of course, it was possible that the epidemic would end and the economy would recover nicely, and that this would boost the Democrats politically. But there was no guarantee of this. And it was clear that McConnell would lead an obstruction campaign that would remind people how much they hate politics and politicians and create a political backlash against Democrats.
The only hope for avoiding this – and it’s only a hope – is to educate people about how our democracy actually works. Voters need to understand why it is so hard to pass legislation, how Republicans are obstructing at every turn, etc. Unfortunately Biden’s emphasis on normality and bipartisanship is completely at odds with doing this. Biden has taken on responsibility for doing something – making American democracy reasonably functional and bipartisan – that is literally impossible, while at the same time obscuring the real causes of our dysfunction.
There is an important place for consensus-building and bipartisanship in a well-functioning democracy, but this is not where we are today. I hope Biden’s speech reflects a recognition of this and signals a new approach to politics.
In hockey, teams can choose whether or not to play dirty, or used to before the NHL started changing the rules.
One particular season, there was this rag tag team of misfits that were really damn good. One of the guys looked like a figure skater, real pro. They started on the ice in good clean fashion. No icing, no egregious fouls. Just a pleasant game of rag tags versus a band of Russians. The misfits scored a couple of goals in the first period and the crowd started getting amped. The skating got better, the offense was on fire. That’s when the Russians decided it was time to play a different game. All of the sudden one guy got checked hard into the glass, another Russian slammed into him again from the other side. It was chaos. One Russian ended up in the box, two more ganged up on another misfit, a brawl started and sticks, gloves and helmets were on the ice and the game ground to a screeching halt. The game recovered and the boxed Russian went back to the field. Out of nowhere two Reds hit the misfit figure skater that had put one in the net and kept pressure on the goalie in the glass hard, blood on the glass. He collapsed and was out of the game probably with a broken rib. The Reds got two goals in, the rest of the game was foul after fight after slam. The misfits one by one point 3-2 but lost their best player to injury, which turned their whole season into shit.
When one team decides to not play by the rules and get dirty, playing the game clean on the other side is a fools errand.
Also one of the reasons the NHL started adopting rules to curb some of those behaviors….hmm
Michael,
All politics is dirty whether the dog and pony show is simply devious and pandering or a kabuki theater of elaborately characterized heroes and villains. Since the lines are already drawn in the US, then all that any player can do is appeal to their own fans to keep them excited. Ordinary Joe is the best candidate for POTUS that we could find in 2016, but no one ever said that he was exciting.
Eric:
We are too close to the 22 election to even think about being nice-nicey. The Republican Party tried to overthrow the government and for that they deserve no quarter. However, at the pace Garland is moving, the indictments will run into November and we will still have not touched any of the conspirators who inspired this action.
What we are doing now is simply finding people guilty, putting them on probation, and making a notation in their permament records (just like the threat in High School). Set them aside and lets get to the hard core leaders of the insurrection which may include McCarthy, make them pay, and start singing a different tune. None of these soft-handed boys are ready to survive in a regular prison.
Biden needs to get real with the opposition.
The entire Democratic Party needs to get real with the opposition. Guerilla warfare versus a standing English long rifle brigade, well, we’ve already seen how that works.