Except that @AOC asked for the $2,000 after the $600 payout was negotiated by House Democrats, Senate Republicans and the Trump regime. Which was never enough to start. Now Biden is still not providing the $2,000 when folks need the money.
You can argue that AOC shouldn't have taken to media to make her case. But she's a Member of Congress and can use any of the tools at her disposal to do so. In any case, she is correct that what Biden is proposing isn't nearly good enough. Also, Biden only responds to pressure.
It is only B.S. to you because you are more-aligned with Biden and his wing of the Democratic Party than with AOC's wing.
The reality is that $2,000 is not enough and when Biden stepped into this, he basically agreed to give $2,000 (even if he 'meant' just another $1,400). Biden should have just did the $2,000 because we all know that another $1,400 isn't enough.
Bernie praised it as a 'very strong first installment'. Which means that he expects more than just another $1,400. But because he has a closer relationship with Biden than AOC does, he's not going to press hard right now. @charles_gaba
This, by the way, is where AOC could have done better. Politics is the art of the possible, and the reality is that with rather tenuous control of the Senate, Biden has to get as much possible as he can. @charles_gaba
I agree with AOC that Biden should be more-aggressive. But there's Joe Manchin sitting right there threatening to derail everything good because he's a White Supremacist DINO who cares only about getting re-elected. So Biden does what he can. @charles_gaba
Ultimately, AOC is right to push Biden on this. That's her job. She's not here just to play nice for the president-elect; she's also fighting for other Americans, including those in her district who really need way more than $1,400 or even $2K.
Biden is doing the art of the possible. But AOC is also fighting to make more possible. If more folks (including Manchin's constituents) demand $2,000, Manchin has to give. Which means Biden moves. Or Biden tells Manchin to do it or lose something he really wants. @charles_gaba
Activists and Members of Congress working the outside are the ones who push the folks closer to the center to change. That's how life works. And AOC is doing it right - even if Center-Whites don't like it. @charles_gaba
Meanwhile as WillyWicki notes, Biden forgets that the average American isn't going to do a whole lot of mental math to understand what he's doing.
He should just push for the $2,000 and avoid disappointing folks out there.
I forgot this, by the way (and @charles_gaba probably forgot this, too). The promise of $2,000 was, along with the work of LaTosha Brown, Stacey Abrams and other Black folks, the key to Ossof and Warnock winning their races.
I talk to real live people who aren't in policy. This includes folks who drive buses as well as fix cars for a living. Ask them about the $2,000 and they thought they were getting an additional $2,000.
Let me remind you of this: If you are the person tweeting or putting together newsletters on healthcare issues, you aren't the average person. So don't assume that how you think is how the person working out there in that blue collar life thinks.
I'm also Black, so the chances of me knowing everyday people is far greater because they also happen to be my relatives and neighbors. As well as folks I deal with in areas such as education.
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Thing is, many of those folks, like Miller and Bannon, were never really 'fringe'. Or, to paraphrase @tressiemcphd, elite White folks have always believed in race scientism and phrenology.
What Trump did was bring to light the wide acceptance among White folks of explicit and blatant White Supremacy - as well as weaponize such bigotry for the goal of gaining and keeping power.
Center-Whites may have wanted to believe that such bigotry was limited to militia group members. But anyone who watched the conservative reaction to Waco and Ruby Ridge (as well as the sparring over control of Sierra Club) knew full well the extent bigotry was accepted.
Folks like @JamesSurowiecki spent time blaming states and municipal governments for not doling out the vaccines quickly enough. Yet forgot that the federal government is in charge of vaccine distribution - and didn't buy enough vaccines to start.
By the way: We knew that the feds, under the Trump regime, would mess this up. It was reported back in December that the Trump regime didn't buy enough of the Pfizer vaccine, even after the pharma offered to supply more. cnbc.com/2020/12/14/cov…
Should we really be surprised that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who hates Mambo Sauce and is trying to get Black kids killed by reopening school buildings in the midst of a pandemic, also seems uninterested in making it easier for Black residents in her city to get vaccinated?
I try not to beat up on other Black people because we can have the same goals and yet disagree on the means. But Bowser's public health czar, LaQuandra Nesbitt, is being real tone deaf in this case.
Now let's note that Nesbitt also has a point: Vaccine distribution is hard enough when you prioritize based on age, pre-existing conditions and type of employment (which is what's happening everywhere). Adding zip code to the mix can make this even harder.
From my experience, there are a lot of White Supremacists in newsrooms. They're often just the polite kind who would never say the N word, but use other terms and stereotypes that are just as pejorative.
This happens a lot. Often, this highly-connected editor is a straight-up bigot and incompetent to boot. But because he is well-connected, falsely claims Indigenous ancestry, and the hiring manager doesn't want to admit error, that guy oversees 'diversity'.
Eventually, after blowing up spots throughout the newsroom, he gets moved around to other jobs. Such as editorial page editor. Where he creates more havoc and the staff mutinies (knowing full well that this will cost them dearly).