Senator Joe Manchin Holds a Press Conference

Senator Joe Manchin Holds a Press Conference

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At his press conference on the proposed Build Back Better (AKA. reconciliation bill) legislation held yesterday, Senator Joe Manchin (D. WV) proven that he could pout with the best of them.?Said Manchin: “For the sake of the country, I urge the house to vote and pass the bipartisan infostructure bill – holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill”.??It is quickly apparent from these words, and the tenor of the press conference, that the Senator from West Virginia does not like to be pressured and is reacting to being singled out as the villain in the unfolding legislative battle.?Manchin has indeed come under significant criticism and pressure, including on this blog, for his refusal to compromise anything in this critical negotiation.

Manchin’s intransigence and obstructionism makes the Democrats look like incompetent fools, unable to deliver on their electoral promises.?It also undermines President Biden’s international stature and ability to negotiate.?As one prominent scholar explained, the moral suasion needed to utilize America’s soft power, badly damaged under former President Trump, can’t be repaired if Manchin continues his assault on democratic norms and values. Further, and of critical importance, Manchin’s self-indulgence, by giving fodder to GOP canons, puts another nail in the coffin of democracy as we know it.?Manchin risks going down in history as a key figure in the demise of the one-person one-vote concept of American politics.

In spite of all that is at stake, ?Manchin feels the need to let the world know that he will not be swayed because the majority in the United States, according to polls too numerous to mention, wants this legislation passed, want billionaires taxed (come on Joe, there are precisely zero billionaires in West Virginia), want social problems addressed and climate change challenged and think he is a bad guy for getting in the way.

As noted previously in this blog, Manchin seems to be motivated by his own self-interest.?So are we all, but Manchin is a public servant who needs to respond to a higher calling, like the public good. But Manchin is motivated by the cash flowing in from his coal mining investments, which accounts for at least his objection to the climate change portions of the Build Back Better legislation. No doubt his calculations all show that standing up against the legislation and delaying it wherever possible, will play well with the folks in West Virginia who voted for him.?This is in spite of the fact that the polls (those pesky old things) show substantial support in Manchin’s stomping grounds for the legislation.

But come on Mister Senator Manchin, politics, the career you have chosen successfully over nigh these past many decades, is all about compromise.?Let’s say that again for those in the back.?Politics is the art of compromise.?Some person smarter than I said that.?Manchin has yet to compromise on anything about the Build Back Better proposals.?If Sir, you refuse to compromise, you open yourself up to massive and well-deserved criticism.

It is starting to look like Manchin’s continued objections are because he likes being the center of attention.?He is recycling old complaints and advancing new but ridiculous objections.?For example, he says he is in opposition because he wants more time to understand the legislation’s inflationary and economic impact.?Of course, sir.?We all want that.?And that information will come through scoring done in due time by the Congressional Budget Office. Holding out that particular objection just makes you sound petulant.

But he seems to crave the attention, particularly with himself in such a central position.?With the 50 – 50 split in the Senate, he has more power now than he has had at any point previously in his career.?Damn to what the public wants.?Damn to the polls and the party and the president.?Just keep those cameras rolling.?Is this becoming the Joe Manchin show??No catchy name though, like say, “The Apprentice”. Just pure ego gratification.

I have here and before excoriated the Senator from West Virginia for his obstinacy, greed and lust for power.?While he well deserves this, his counterpart in greed and obstinacy, the honorable Senator Krysten Sinema (D. AZ) while much less vocal (she prefers to remain silent on her obstructionism hoping that her actual position will be forgotten by the electorate when it comes time for them to return to the polls) deserves condemnation as well.?Just for starters, in what type of democracy, under what theoretical political construction, does an elected official remain silent about her position on vital legislation??It is rather mind-boggling.

There are also, of course, another 50 US Senators who deserve condemnation as well.?These are, you guessed it, the Republicans, lead by Mitch McConnell (R. KY) in the Senate.?These self-serving toads refuse to look passed their own self-interest to the good of their electorate, their country, and their world. It’s all party and power for these folks. I promise to return my thoughts and my keyboard to these miscreants soon.

These Republicans, however, are in the camp of the opponents.?Manchin (and Sinema it seems) profess allegiance to progressive causes, to sanity and to democracy itself through allegiance to the Democratic Party.?It is far past time for him to understand that he is not the only person involved and that there are other adults with whom he must play.

With the anti-Manchin diatribe having now ended, kudos should be given to the rest of the Democrats in this drama.?Manchin handed them lit dynamite at his press conference.?Rather than letting that TNT go off, the White House and progressive Democratic Caucus members just clipped the fuse and let it sputter out impotently on the floor.?They did not react.?No further vitriol was spewed at Manchin.?The progressives said they would pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill and let President Biden work quietly with Manchin on Build Back Better.?Good for them.

?I realize that this post has more passion than substance. I believe we are fighting for the life of our democracy, and I refuse to be dispassionate about that. I will not apologize, but I will strive to be less angry next time.