The outcome of the Nov. 2 elections has the Democrats in disarray. The House of Representatives has hastily moved to vote on the Dems' pet Build Back Better "human infrastructure" bill in an apparent attempt to achieve some kind of victory after their recent electoral failures.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to reveal whether she possesses enough votes to move ahead with the party's spending spree. And yet late Thursday evening, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) informed lawmakers of the expected Nov. 5 vote, saying, "The House will convene at 8:00 a.m. for legislative business tomorrow and will take votes on the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act."
However, the events that recently unfolded may have given some Democrats pause before proceeding with reckless abandon. Whether or not the leftist wishlist makes it through the House – which is questionable, given the ongoing tug-of-war between progressives and moderates – it is more likely than ever to stall when it comes to the Senate.
To Be or Not To Be Progressive
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), the maverick lawmaker who has become the thorn in the side of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, believes Republican Glenn Youngkin's victory in Virginia validates his overspending concerns. President Joe Biden had won the state by ten points in the 2020 presidential contest, leaving Manchin astonished by what happened on Nov. 2, 2021.
Manchin confessed to reporters that he found the GOP victories for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general to be "unbelievable." He urged his colleagues "to be more attentive to the people back home" instead of fueling inflation and angering constituents in rural areas of the country. "I've been saying this for many, many months; people have concerns, people are concerned," he added. "And for us to go down a path that we've been going and trying to accelerate it and it has been slowed down – I think we need to take our time and do it right."
Perhaps dooming the passage of Build Back Better, Manchin insisted that he would not vote to bypass the Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough if his party tried to force through an immigration amnesty. MacDonough has previously refused attempts to gain such an amnesty, saying it is against reconciliation rules.
Speaking to Fox News, the West Virginia lawmaker said:
"People might be all excited about something now ... It [immigration reform] might not even fit in the bill because on our side it doesn't fit, it doesn't come within the rules of reconciliation ... I'm not going to vote to overrule the parliamentarian ... I'm not going to do that; they all know that."
AOC: Being Moderate Doesn't Win
The consensus on Capitol Hill is that the Democrats need to figure out what is happening. James Carville, the well known Democratic consultant, assigned "stupid wokeness" for the Democrats' losses. The CNN commentator explained on election night that Democrats are oblivious that they come across as "annoying and seem out of touch," that this "five-alarm fire" should be "a big, big wake-up call" for the party.
However, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) thinks otherwise. In an Instagram story on Nov. 3, AOC stated that the end result in Virginia came because Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe ran a "100% super moderated campaign" that failed to "energize a progressive base." She told her followers on social media:
"Plus, on the election front. I actually think we have good news as well. I know that Virginia was a huge bummer. And honestly, if anything, I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100% super moderated campaign that does not excite, speak to or energize a progressive base. And frankly, we weren't even really invited to contribute on that race."
But while leftists scored minor victories on Election Night 2021, it would be challenging to find the punditry class agreeing with her supposition about Virginia. As Liberty Nation's Leesa K. Donner noted in the post-election autopsy:
"... it's never a good idea to mess with parents – especially moms – when it comes to their children. McAuliffe politically tarred and feathered himself when he said, 'I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.' Similar to Hillary Clinton's 'deplorables' moment, it was a statement from which he could never recover."
Blame is the Name of the Game
(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Ultimately, even if the Democrats investigate their string of losses since President Biden moved into the Oval Office, their conclusion might come to blaming everyone else. Like Clinton passing the onus onto Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bernie Bros for her stunning 2016 electoral defeat, both the establishment and progressive elements of the Democratic Party may choose to inculpate a growing list of scapegoats rather than gape into the mirror.
Be it education or soaring gasoline prices, Biden, attempting to rationalize the statewide red wave in Virginia, averred that many Americans are "upset and uncertain." But, instead of conceding that a considerable portion of the electorate is blaming the administration's policies for many of the setbacks and hurdles, Biden doubled down and championed his Build Back Better crusade as the path to peace, prosperity, and the progressive way.
The president may have offered sound advice to his party: The Democrats need a better message than "we're not Donald Trump."
Stick a Fork in Build Back Better?
Is the wokelash to progressive politics unfolding across the United States real and everlasting? If the latest election results are an indicator of the current state of the union, many Americans are clearly perturbed by the petulance of the progressive movement and the militant left attempting to reshape the country into a liberal arts classroom in Portland, OR. From the red wave in Virginia to the near upset victory in New Jersey, voters' attitudes at the ballot box have morphed into an indictment on the Build Back Better agenda, leaving the Democratic Party vulnerable and in shambles.
Whether it is a lack of votes in Congress or a circumspect electorate, the White House may need to reconsider the Build Back Better blitzkrieg and move on to something else. This was always a plagiarized globalist venture constructed on a house of sand, destroyed by mendacity and manipulation. The American people may be getting fatigued by the never-ending debts and deficits that plague every administration and session of Congress. Bidenomics orthodoxy, sold on the lie that these spending schemes are zero cost to the taxpayers and will create vast riches for the impecunious and middle-class, has been dismantled by life's realities.
~ Read more from Andrew Moran.
