President Joe Biden and his top congressional allies relentlessly pushed the Build Back Better legislation, only to be humiliated by a member of their own party who refused to support it.
According to Fox News, while most Dems touted the bill in the public light, a recent piece published by the Los Angeles Times quotes a Democratic senator as calling the White House’s strategy on promoting the failed legislation “idiotic.”
Now that the bill is all but permanently dead, given that the party couldn’t convince Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to get on board, it appears as if Dems and other party officials are beginning to play the blame game behind the scenes, and in the process, their real feelings on the bill are coming to the surface.
In the LA Times’ piece, the anger from an anonymous Democratic senator seemed to be aimed at White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over the confusing rhetoric pushed by both men.
Dem spills the tea
Aside from calling the whole debacle idiotic, the anonymous Dem pointed out why he or she now feels that way.
“So Manchin walked away [from Build Back Better] because the White House was putting too much of a spotlight on him — and your response to that is to lean in further on voting rights so that he, once again, is seen as the problem?” the anonymous senator reportedly said.
The infighting had reportedly begun after Schumer and Dems failed to pass a temporary filibuster rule reform that would have allowed the party to pass a voting rights bill, which is what they pivoted to after BBB died on the table.
“Several Democrats have spoken off the record against the Democratic political veteran and his compatriots in the White House,” Fox News wrote, referencing Schumer and his White House allies.
Biden’s role
The president, as he attempted to rally the troops to push a pair of voting rights bills to capture a much-needed win after BBB failed, stumbled in a massive way after he suggested that elected officials not on board with the bills were akin to historic figures who were against the civil rights movement.
“So, I ask every elected official in America: How do you want to be remembered?” Biden asked a small audience with regard to the voting rights bills.
He went on to ask: “At consequential moments in history, they present a choice: Do you want to be on the side of Dr. [Martin Luther] King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”
The president and his top allies essentially put on a master class of how not to promote a bill. As a result, all three pieces of legislation were killed on sight, and the timing couldn’t have possibly been worse for the Democratic Party, as the November midterms inch closer.
