Benjy Sarlin Profile picture
Jan 23 5 tweets 1 min read
This is the latest in a long series, “Biden is actually saying the thing pundits constantly say he should say and it probably doesn't matter all that much”
Previous editions include “why won’t Biden clearly say schools should stay open”
Obama had a bunch of these, “why won’t he do X?” moments in which he, in fact, had done X. It’s not as simple as saying some magic words to turn around approval or make a story stick. Requires sustained effort and usually is just drowned out by bigger events.
So I see Biden folks RTing this thread. I don't actually see this as a "Why doesn't Biden get more credit" story really, it's mostly how messaging fixes tend to be dwarfed by the actual problems confronting a president in determining approval. And those problems are very big.
It's also about how hard it is to just say a phrase or two to check a box or change a party's image. Biden was pro-more police funding in 2020 too! But to build a clear political brand takes a lot of work, especially if it's one independent from other voices within the party.

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More from @BenjySarlin

Jan 25
So I think this is missing the issue. BBB individually is all popular poll-tested vanilla policies. The strategy to PASS it has been a disaster that’s done grievous damage because of Schumer’s decision not to pick a combo of policies Manchinema signaled support on first.
Indeed, Manchin and Sinema seem fairly flexible as to which spending polices even go into it since they’re mostly not very controversial. The main barrier is the overall cost and structure. That’s all on leadership and WH.
There’s a plausible strategic explanation: “Let’s aim higher than they wanted on BBB and then pressure them to come closer to our number.” But if it’s January and you’re begging them to even consider their July offer again, it’s a self-evident failure on substance and tactics.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 21
This isn’t quite right, I’d say. It’s more that domestic leg agenda is incredibly important in real life terms and even sometimes for re-election, but not particularly for short-term approval or midterms.
There is no universe where Obama “focused” on the More Jobs Act in 2010 and D’s didn’t lose 50+ seats with 10% unemployment. Similarly inflation/gas prices and Delta/omicron massively outweigh whatever action Biden could take around them in terms of dictating approval.
You know what’s a good way to show you’re “focused” on the economy and COVID? Passing $1.9T that just gives people money and every institution unprecedented funds to deal with COVID. That bought like 4 months of goodwill and then it became overwhelmed by the problems themselves.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 12, 2021
People hear "The Enlightenment" and the branding does the rest, but there's lots of interesting strains of right wing criticism of it along with left. Major evangelical theologians see it as a wrong turn. There are neo-classical thinkers who think we should go back to Aristotle.
One of the most influential evangelical works is "How Should We Then Live?" by Francis Schaeffer, who explicitly makes the case the Renaissance onward was a mistake that took us from religion and led to all sorts of secular and totalitarian evils. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Shoul….
Then there's thinkers like Leo Strauss and Alasdair MacIntyre who championed classical virtues and argued the Enlightenment successfully tore down traditional pillars of thought, but failed to provide a viable alternative. "After Virtue" is a great read whatever your politics.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 8, 2021
I've read about a million takes on "critical race theory" over the last few months and my one consistent takeaway that obsessing over a definition of "CRT" is largely useless and everyone should just argue over specific examples as much as possible nymag.com/intelligencer/…
This cuts in different directions on left and right. The main activist on the right is openly trying to make CRT a catch-call and political slogan for various things conservatives hate, not some actual rigorous definition. It's easy to dismiss it as bad faith demagoguery as such.
But because it's so easy to dismiss as propaganda, people on the left keep thinking any complaint that falls under its rubric can be safely ignored. But there really is lots of change happening now and they need to address specifics without getting bogged down in label fights.
Read 9 tweets
Nov 5, 2021
Well they’ve called a vote, I’ll just assume no drama from here on out and then take a series of big sips of coffee for the rest of the evening
Well I’ll start sipping coffee again then
Read 8 tweets
Nov 2, 2021
Manchinometer a little greener today, per @GarrettHaake and @frankthorp: "My goodness, we're agreeing on childcare, we're agreeing on pre-K, we're agreeing on homecare...And we're working on climate very progressive, I think in a good way and we'll get something done I believe."
Manchin said he pointedly did not sign off on BBB framework because he had outstanding issues, but also emphasizing points of agreement. It's a little confusing, because if his concern about temporary programs is real then childcare/pre-k is a huge disagreement. But not clear yet
More on this: "Basically things that would run out in 10 years makes that a much more expensive piece of legislation than what we’re seeing it is right now. Maybe they’re thinking that it’ll just expire and nothing will be done or extended. I don’t know. We’re working through..."
Read 5 tweets

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