@sharonk.bsky.social Ever heard th phrase “bully pulpit”? He rolled over, didn’t let th public see him fighting. If th president & party leader can’t be seen to care, why should anyone else? Ds keep failing to see that politics at th highest level is about shaping & guiding public opinion, not parliamentary maneuvering.
@numericcitizen Apparently they plan to resume development on Arc. Good news!
@beachblond52.bsky.social Lost it at “burps a lot”! 🤣
@sharonk.bsky.social At the very least Obama could have exacted a political price for Republicans’ intransigence. He absolutely has the talent as a communicator to have accomplished that much.
@sharonk.bsky.social What’s demoralizing is never seeing the party that pays lip service to your values ever actually prepared fight for them. With some honorable exceptions, but seemingly fewer every year.
@toddgrotenhuis Lyrics, what’s that?
@sharonk.bsky.social You’re both saying “why bother trying if success is not guaranteed” (or worse, “why stick our necks out when those ungrateful voters didn’t vote hard enough for us”). And that’s precisely the problem.
@sharonk.bsky.social It’s possible that McConnell would still have won in the end if Obama had made the Garland nomination more of a public issue, asked the court to rule on “advise and consent”, or fought the issue in various other ways that were open to him. But he chose not to do any of those things.
@hawaiiboy I think it depends on when it happens. If soon then Vance will still have most of the term to exercise power and dole out rewards and punishments. If it takes longer, I don’t think anyone believes he’d be able to win an election unless the opposing candidate is utterly hopeless
@sharonk.bsky.social If the WH had opened negotiations with a position that wasn’t already a watered-down compromise, the public option would have been the compromise.
@sharonk.bsky.social His greatest sin was handing over the Supreme Court. Second was making Romneycare the de facto Dem opening position in negotiations over healthcare reform. Behind it all was taking far too long to realize that the GOP had long ceased to be a loyal opposition with good-faith arguments.