2022's True Winner: Joe Biden and Political Pragmatism
A December 28th photo showing President Biden about to sign 65 new bills into law
Medicare-for-all!
The Green New Deal!
Forgive all student loans!
Defund the police!
For the past seven years, all we as Democrats have heard has been the bloviating buster of those on the far left. The "political revolution" that never came to fruition was based on the idea that today's Democratic Party wasn't moving fast enough. That if somehow, some way, Americans demanded change that all of a sudden 235 years of slow, methodical governance would be whisked away and a Democratic president would be able to miraculously implement a wish list of progressive legislation simply because it was the will of the people. Never mind the fact that Congress was in Republican hands in 2016 or that there's this whole concept of "constitutionality" when it comes to enacting executive orders, the far left was truly, truly convinced that their 2016 and later 2020 messiah could whisk into the presidency and enact these laws exactly as proposed. When their chosen won lost handily for a second time in 2020, they became convinced that nothing would get done with an "Establishment Democrat" at the helm of the executive branch.
Oh, how wrong they were.
And we knew they'd be wrong. Because we knew that a political revolution is not something that happens overnight nor is it something that can overturn 240 years of established government. Like it or not, the American system of government is based on slow, incremental change. Yes, it is archaic and elements like the filibuster must be reformed. But at its core, it is a system designed to not upset the current balance with too revolutionary a change. There's this whole system of checks and balances. There's the need for 60 votes in the United States Senate meaning that legislation must at least appeal in part to those in the minority party. Sure, we'd all like to steamroll progressive legislation through our current control of the Executive and Legislative branches but that is not possible in our current system. What is possible; however, is deliberate, pragmatic, legislation that gets us closer and closer to our more perfect union.
Joe Biden understands this. Real Democrats understand this. We understand not to throw out the baby with the bath water. We understand that getting 70% of what we want is so much better than 0%. It's why we tolerate the shenanigans of Manchinema. Because we know that confirming over 90 federal judges, with 3/4 of them being women and nearly half being people of color is critical for our judicial system. While the far left downplayed the importance of the Supreme Court of 2016, Joe Biden and his team have set the country up to have the most progressive judiciary in our country's history a generation from now. While that isn't on the far left's wish list, it is critical to do, especially with the Senate being under Democratic control for the next 2 years. Joe Biden learned from Barack Obama, whose first term involved his appointment of fewer judges than his predecessors. When Biden campaigned on a promise to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court what he was actually signaling was a commitment for a more inclusive judiciary branch, a promise he has made and kept during his presidency.
But while Biden's judicial successes aren't always in the news, what is in the news is the sheer volume of meaningful legislation he has passed over the last two years. Biden's first two years in office is rightly being compared to LBJ as the most productive in nearly 60 years. With the recent passage of the Omnibus Bill, the 117th Congress passed 262 bills since Biden took office, a number all the more remarkable with a 50-50 Senate. What that meant for Joe Biden is that his key legislative priorities not only had to have Chuck Schumer keep the Democratic Senate together, but also had to earn enough support from an intransigent Republican Party hellbent on denying Democrats any victories whatsoever. Starting with infrastructure, Joe Biden slowly and surely chipped away at this Republican opposition, bringing forth legislation that Republicans knew would help them in their own re-election campaigns. While it was inevitable that 30+ Republican senators would oppose everything Biden submitted, Biden did enough to win over those closest to the middle by generating legislation that was palatable enough for the 10+ centrist Republican senators to support. In an era of hyper-partisan politics, it was a lifelong Washington insider who found a way to get Republicans onboard to a Democratic agenda.
Truly, this was an agenda that reflected pragmatism and progress rather than pipe dreams. Because moving the needle is what successful Democrats do. Everything Joe Biden accomplished these past two years was seemingly not enough for the far left and yet it made and will continue to make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable citizens. It has become clear that the far left knows that without outrage, it has nothing. The far left needs its boogeymen to remain relevant. That's their whole shtick: the Democrats aren't doing enough. So, naturally, Biden kneecapped their entire argument by working diligently to pass meaningful legislation in their key areas. Increasing ACA enrollment to an all-time high including an 18% increase over 2021? Check. Addressing climate change with a $369 billion commitment in the Inflation Reduction Act? Check. Being methodical and meticulous and creating an Executive Order through the Department of Education to forgive up to $20,000 of student loan debt? Check. Providing police reform and training (and *not* defunding the police) in the Omnibus Bill? Check. All 4 issues that have been a rallying cry for the far left since Biden took office. Today, all 4 issues have been addressed, centering low-income women and men of color at the forefront of the discussion and leaving far left groups like Justice Democrats and Sunrise Movement stymied in their efforts to undermine the Democratic Party.
All that takes skill and it takes experience, both of which Joe Biden and his administration exhibit. While there is still much to do at the federal level, the stage has been set for success for a generation to come. This did not happen with Joe Biden coming in, guns blazing, aiming to bully his progressive wish list onto Congress. Instead, Biden worked and relied on his relationships. Vice-President Harris went to work behind the scenes. Compromises were made. Funding ended up being less than initially proposed. But at the end of the day, these slow, pragmatic victories piled up as they tend to do. Joe Biden doesn't sign those 60+ laws on December 28th because he bullied his opponents into submission. He is able to sign those laws because he knows that progress means getting closer and closer to a goal and progress only happens with their is a realistic outcome at the end. The 117th Congress was able to do everything it did because it had Joe Biden at the helm, who had an unwavering belief in the power of political pragmatism.
A power with which the far left simply cannot compete.
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