Schumer regime promises a sharp break from Reid

[EricMaundry]

Source: Politico

It’s been hard to tell lately that Harry Reid and Joe Manchin even belong to the same party. When Reid attacked Donald Trump after the election, Manchin called his own party leader an “absolute embarrassment”; Reid fired back that Manchin was just “running for a Cabinet spot” in Trump’s White House.

Then there’s Chuck Schumer. He not only tapped Manchin to join his leadership team, but backed the West Virginian's gambit that threatened a government shutdown over coal miners' benefits — a showdown that Reid declined to endorse in his final days as party leader.

“We want to get these beautiful people their due,” Schumer said in his trademark Brooklyn accent as he stood beside retired miners outside the Capitol last month. “And we won’t stop ‘til we do.”

The competing postures toward the most conservative member of their caucus speaks volumes about the leadership styles of the just-departed and rising Democratic Senate leaders. Schumer is predisposed to accommodate the various factions of the Democratic coalition: his actions in the coal miners row demonstrated how seriously he takes the mandate to help his party's withering moderate wing. The approach will be nothing short of a sea change from Reid’s singular style of combative, shoot-from-the-hip politics.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/schumer-kitchen-cabinet-233007