It’s too long to screen grab, but the short version is @mattyglesias is wrong and I’m right. mailchi.mp/crooked.com/bi…
There's another facet to this argument that I didn't have space to get into, but it's about a different lesson from 2009-2010 that many people have somehow forgotten.
It's common to shorthand that stretch as the period where Democrats had a historic 60 vote supermajority. But what really happened is they had fewer than 60 votes, then they had 60, then they didn't again. And the reason It worked out that way is that an elderly senator died.
Obviously 60 votes is basically out of the question for 2021, but 50 or 51 is not. Except, you can't bank on it remaining 50 or 51. And if you lose one or two to death or infirmity, you can't bank on their replacements being Democrats.
Doing the important, contentious stuff first isn't just about the long buffer between the beginning of a Congress and the next election. It's insurance against the unpredictable.
Finding clever reasons to avoid doing the most necessary stuff first is a recipe for heartbreak and a lifetime of second-guessing and regret.
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