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**DECEMBER 20, 2021**
Kuttner on TAP
Almost Hell
The Democrats and the Manchin Captivity
You can understand the pent-up rage and frustration. With his yacht and
his Maserati, his fake concern for the suffering people of West
Virginia, his bad economics and his penchant for moving the goalposts,
Joe Manchin III is a first-class phony.
But that doesn't make rage smart politics. And there is another
unfortunate R-word at play this week in Bidenland-recriminations.
Let's see, who screwed up? Was it Biden for not just taking the $1.75
trillion deal when Manchin made his bargain with Chuck Schumer in July?
(Except that Manchin left himself some wiggle room.)
Was it Biden for not shelving Build Back Better in favor of making
voting rights legislation the top priority? (Except that Manchin is
almost certain to screw his fellow Democrats on this, too.)
Did the Progressive Caucus overplay its hand? Did Pelosi mess up the
very complex bargain between progressives and corporate Dems over the
bipartisan infrastructure deal? Was it a mistake to whip the House
Democrats to pass Build Back Better at $2.2 trillion in the hope of then
giving up some of it to Manchin?
Jeezus, give these people a break. They have been dealt a really lousy
hand, and Manchin has all the cards.
I do worry that Biden (or Jen Psaki) made one major blunder, and one
hopes it will not be fatal. On Sunday, Psaki trashed Manchin
with comments universally described as scathing. And worse, there's
been reporting that Biden personally approved
the Psaki statement.
In case you missed it, Manchin is, among other things, vain. Insult him
a little too much and he just might become an independent, which would
hand Senate control, 50-49, to Mitch McConnell. Manchin will probably
have at least as good a shot at re-election in West Virginia in 2024,
with Trump on the ballot, running as an independent.
For Biden and the Democrats, as they try to devise a Manchin strategy
going forward, mutually assured destruction is probably ill-advised.
They are going to have to swallow their pride, and salvage whatever
Manchin will support. This will be especially unjust and painful for the
Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Schumer has called an emergency meeting of the Senate Democratic Caucus
for Tuesday night, and has told his colleagues that he will take to the
floor both voting rights and a new, presumably slimmed-down version of
Build Back Better in early January. Maybe Manchin, playing Scrooge, will
be seized with some Christmas spirit.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
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