Can The Biden Presidency Be Saved?
If he can sustain the deal-making, why not?
Now we’re talking.
The entire promise and rationale of a Biden presidency was not, I hate to break it to my lefty friends, a total transformation of the country in favor of green energy and “social justice.” It was a return to constitutional normalcy, and the kind of legislative deal-making that offers gradual progress on the biggest challenges of the day.
We wanted a better rollout of vaccines, competent economic management of the bust-and-boom cycle of the pandemic, progress on the urgent question of climate change, and responsibility again on the world stage. Biden gets a B on the first, a C- on the second, a B+ on climate, and a solid B in foreign policy.
That B+ on the climate depends of course on whether the Schumer-Manchin deal struck this week can get to the president’s desk. It looks like it can, if Senator Sinema doesn’t blow it up, and some geezers can recover from Covid quickly enough. And it represents what a Biden presidency promised to a center-right voter like me.
It’s an old-fashioned political deal between two Senators, with Biden on the sidelines. Manchin gets some goodies for the carbon industries in exchange for the biggest federal investment in clean energy ever. There’s a tax on the super-rich. There’s even some incentives for keeping nuclear plants alive. There’s a popular move to reduce Medicare drug prices; and more secure access to healthcare for the less privileged.
And this popularist package is branded as an inflation reduction measure! That’s a bit of a stretch, of course, but it may have a mild deflationary effect in a couple of years. The widely detested Larry Summers — see the Dishcast below — reassured Manchin on the inflationary impact this past week, and, as Chait details today, Summers has credibility on the issue after his sane and prescient warnings about inflation a year and a half ago. It comes after a bipartisan computer chips bill to better compete with China.
It’s not a New Green Deal; and it’s not socialized medicine. It’s what we used to call pragmatic progress. It reminds me of the infrastructure bill, before its bipartisan political success was instantly torpedoed by the left’s insistence on a politically impossible and super-inflationary BBB juggernaut. Imagine if Biden had not been sidetracked, if the consistent theme of his term had been hammering out legislative compromises, if he had just ignored the woke machine in his party rather than completely surrendering to it. He’d be in much better shape today.
And this surely is the way forward for Biden. As he faces the prospect of a Republican House for the second half of his term, he should attempt to make more unsatisfying but sensible deals, like the gun-control measure. The goal is to show that government can still work, that it can attempt to solve emerging problems, and that compromise is a virtue, not a vice. In other times, this may seem dull. In our polarized hellscape, it’s revolutionary.
I still can’t see Biden running again at his age — but I do think a solid, one-term, pragmatic record could give his successor a platform to build on, and reveal the relative extremism now percolating on the right. There are worse legacies to leave behind. And none that better reflects the political temper and record of the Senator from Delaware.
(Note to readers: This is an excerpt of The Weekly Dish. If you’re already a subscriber, click here to read the full version. This week’s issue also includes: a timely interview with Larry Summers on inflation; my take on the ideological blinders of activists when it comes to trans kid (in light of big news this week out of Britain); my disgust over Orbán’s racist speech endorsed by many reactionaries on the American right; a slew of reader dissents over my latest column on Putin’s war; three notable quotes from the week; three Yglesias Awards from the left and right; 17 pieces we recommend from other Substackers; a Mental Health Break of nude dancing; a sunny view from a window in Bourdeilles paired with a dark one from Chattanooga; and, of course, the results of the View From Your Window contest — with a new challenge from a shipping port. Subscribe for the full Dish experience!)
A prodigal subscriber returns:
Andrew, I started subscribing to the Dish when I saw your name. I really enjoy your insight and different guests, but I stopped subscribing about six months ago. You wore me down on your constant CRT rants when so much more was going on. But I continued to read the short version — and I’m back again today with the full paid version. Thanks for the good thoughtful work.
Yes, The Trans Madness Is Real
I recall a few years ago having a heated conversation with some well-meaning trans activists who appeared completely aghast when I voiced some worries about the treatment of kids with gender dysphoria. What if the kid is gay, I asked? How do we know for sure if a pre-pubescent child really is trans and not just experimenting with gender the way many gay kids do? And are these nine-year-old children really mature enough to make life-long decisions that could make them permanently sterile, keep them on drugs for the rest of their lives, or permanently remove their capacity to have an orgasm? How could pre-pubescent kids even know what an orgasm was?
My activist friends were shocked.
(Read the whole 1200-word item here, for paid subscribers — it contains some big news from Britain this week)
What Orbán Believes
The new darling of the American right — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — gave a candid speech last week, siding with Russia against the US, calling Western Europe the “post-West,” and explicitly opposing the idea of “race-mixing.” I think it’s worth reading the speech in full to get the full flavor of the ideology now endorsed by, among others, Tucker Carlson, Rod Dreher and CPAC, where Orbán will give a speech next week.
(Read the whole 500-word item here, for paid subscribers)
New On The Dishcast: Larry Summers
He’s in the news again this week — after persuading Joe Manchin that the climate and healthcare bill he’s pushing isn’t inflationary. Larry Summers has had a storied career, as the chief economist of the World Bank, the treasury secretary under Clinton, and the director of the National Economic Council under Obama. He also was the president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006 and remains there as the Charles W. Eliot University Professor.
For two clips of our convo — on how the US government spent way too little during the Great Recession and way too much during the pandemic, and how we can help the working class cope — pop over to our YouTube page. Listen to the whole episode here. That link also takes you to commentary on last week’s episode with Fraser Nelson on UK politics, as well as a new transcript for another British journalist we had on this summer, David Goodhart, who covers similar themes as the Summers pod. Here’s a clip from Goodhart:
The Dishcast convinced this listener to finally support the Dish:
Well, Andrew, you finally got me — a long-time listener, first-time subscriber. You challenge me in being a conservative and a Catholic and I always come away better for it. I’m desperate for a world of politics where thought leaders are free from conflicting influences and are just wrestling out load with the problems of our time, and the Dish is a pioneer in that. Thanks for everything you and Chris do.
Browse the entire Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy.
Dissents Of The Week: Don’t Be So Pessimistic Over Putin!
After my latest column on the agonizing war in Ukraine, so many readers pushed back that we made a separate post for all the dissents. It also includes fresh commentary on my recent episode with Bob Wright on Ukraine. Check it out.
Also, if you missed last week’s big batch of dissents over DeSantis, here’s the link. Please keep the criticism coming: dish@andrewsullivan.com.
In The ‘Stacks
This is a feature in the paid version of the Dish spotlighting about a dozen of our favorite pieces from other Substackers every week. This week’s selection covers subjects such as Dem groups boosting MAGA candidates, clinical depression, and “female-to-female transexuals.” Below are a few examples, followed by a ‘stack we just subscribed to:
A must-read from Carissa Potter on her agonizing decision to abort a pregnancy with cystic fibrosis after experiencing her daughter suffer with CF.
The heatwave in England has gardeners on edge, especially over roses, hydrangeas and acers.
If you’re more into mushrooms, get to know The Microdose.
You can also browse all the substacks we follow and read on a regular basis here — a combination of our favorite writers and new ones we’re checking out. It’s a blogroll of sorts. If you have any recommendations for “In the ‘Stacks,” especially ones from emerging writers, please let us know: dish@andrewsullivan.com.
The View From Your Window Contest
Where do you think it’s located? Email your guess to contest@andrewsullivan.com. Please put the location — city and/or state first, then country — in the subject line. Proximity counts if no one gets the exact spot. Bonus points for fun facts and stories. The winner gets the choice of a VFYW book or two annual Dish subscriptions. If you are not a subscriber, please indicate that status in your entry and we will give you a free month subscription if we select your entry for the contest results (example here if you’re new to the contest). We gave the latest free sub to this reader:
I am not a subscriber because I already have too much reading material sitting unread in my house every week, but I love the VFYW contest so very much I think I may finally crack. Thanks again for a fun puzzle to work out on a steamy weekend!
The results for last week’s window are coming in a separate email to paid subscribers later today. Happy sleuthing! A regular sleuth writes:
Thanks as always for a great competition. Like many of your other readers I have been playing Geoguessr since reading the New York Times article. It’s fun, but it’s just a game. VFYW is a community of fellow travelers and learners.
You can join that community here. See you next Friday.