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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBTRTN: 78-Year-Old Joe Biden Plays the Long Game
Born To Run The Numbers identifies the strategic theme underlying the decisions in Joe Biden's White House in the BTRTN July month-in-review:
http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2021/08/btrtn-78-year-old-joe-biden-plays-long.html
Excerpts: "The conventional wisdom... is that Joe Biden really has only two years actually, now only 17 months -- to accomplish anything. Come the midterms, he will lose the House and the Senate, and however slowly the governments gears are moving now, they will grind to a halt once the GOP controls even just one house of Congress. Therefore, goes the narrative, Biden must go deep and go fast, and whatever norms stand in the way notably the hallowed Senate filibuster must be cast aside...
"The only trouble with this narrative is that Joe Biden does not appear to believe in it. Instead Biden, rather surprisingly given his advanced age, is the one playing the long game: he wants to win the midterms in 2022, hold on to both houses of Congress, and win reelection in 2024, and he is pretty darned convinced that blowing up DC as we know it is not the way to go. And, right or wrong, this conviction -- his wisdom, not the conventional one -- informs every single decision he is making...
"Biden has his crises COVID, of course, and the resultant economic slump and he also has his opportunity to re-shape America. But his entire game... is to keep the Far Left at bay while not losing the middle. He is not betting the ranch on shelving the filibuster and pushing through a $6 trillion makeover of the U.S. economy. Instead, he is going to negotiate for the best deal he can get that Middle America can live with. He cannot pretend he has the mandate the FDR and LBJ had; he has to take what he can get."
bucolic_frolic
(43,364 posts)which is what always did describe Joe Biden, it's where he hung out for 45 years. Will it work? Will common sense, logic, moderation carry the day? I also think it's out best shot. Obama was out in the weeds on same-sex bathrooms in 2016; the issue did not appeal to uneducated culturally conservative voters. Joe Biden has one other advantage. He can tweak anything. Any issue he can assemble the best minds anyone can find, and figure out a way to sell it and improve the outcome.
LetMyPeopleVote
(145,666 posts)tgards79
(1,415 posts)It'll be tough.
crickets
(25,987 posts)Sounds like Joe Biden actually knows what he's doing. Steady, popular strategy moves, with consistent messaging as well as some pretty good results, seem to be working well so far. The midterm outcome may be a pleasant surprise for Dems.