Some years ago an occasional reader complained to me that I never had good news on this blog. I tried for a while to reform, and even created a “Good News” category, but if you click on it, you’ll see that it’s sparsely populated. But if this post goes as planned, it will join that group.
First, to be clear, the good news is not an intent on my part to stop blogging, though I find that the absence of he whose name has never been connected to the word “president” in this blog does make it a bit harder to come up with material.
No, the good news is that the Democrats who represent us in Washington have finally appeared to learn the facts about Republicans, facts which we lefty bloggers have been screaming about for — well, for as long as there have been lefty blogs.
Specifically, it now appears that both the Democratic President of the United States and the majority of Democrats in Congress, very much including leadership, are now aware that one cannot assume or even hope that Republicans will bargain in good faith. Nor can they be expected to play by the rules to which they insist Democrats must adhere when Democrats are in the majority. The current debate about the stimulus package looks to be a re-run of 2009, except this time the Democrats aren’t falling for it.
Another piece of good news, or maybe a subset of the above, is the fact that, so far, Joe Biden seems to get it. Several years ago I was a regular listener to Pod Save America, and I recall hearing Joe tell the hosts that the Republicans would have a come to Jesus moment after the election and that it would be a mistake to take away the filibuster. He has obviously changed his mind, particularly as to the first of those, as one gets the distinct impression that he is very much trying to give the impression that his meeting with those 10 Senate “moderate Republicans” (a terribly overworked oxymoron by the way) was simply a perfunctory exercise.
Now, if only the Democrats would up their game in one other way. I’ve been saying for years that they have to learn to get on the same page, come up with talking points regarding the issues of the day, and repeat them endlessly, in the same way Republicans have done for years. Case in point is today’s Republican talking point to the effect that the Democrats really must take the views and feelings of the 74 million idiots who voted for Trump into account, by, if you follow the logic, not doing anything of which Republicans disapprove. The press has, to a certain extent, bought into some of this bullshit, and it’s important that the Democrats come up with a rejoinder that not only hits the Republicans but makes the point that the press is constantly expecting Democrats to do things for which they give Republicans a pass. It really isn’t that hard. I just hope it doesn’t take them 12 more years to learn that lesson, which is how long it took them to figure out that you can’t expect Republicans to bargain in good faith.
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