Joe Biden never ran for president on a “centrist” or “moderate” platform. He only sounded like a centrist. The distinction is important because Biden found it necessary to appropriate radical-left orthodoxy in order to cement the loyalty of Bernie Sanders supporters to his campaign.
Without the support of both the moderates and the radicals, Biden would be retired and living most of the year at his beach house in Rehoboth. At the time, he didn’t care how the mishmash of strange ideological bedfellows would play out in real-time. He just needed to win.
But eight months later, beset on all sides by enemies foreign and domestic, Biden has turned his government over to the true believers and thrown the moderates under the bus. It was inevitable given the 50-50 nature of the government he leads. No wishy-washy politicians need apply.
In truth, the “true believers” don’t believe or care very much about Biden. He is a figurehead, nothing more. He’s a convenient vessel that carries the radical cause forward to smite the wicked and bring peace and justice to the land.
At least, their notions of “peace and justice.”
Joe Biden realized this past week that the only way he was going to succeed as president was to hitch his presidency to the socialists’ wagon and ride off to immortality.
Or oblivion, depending on your point of view.
New York Times:
“The way he is governing doesn’t reflect the skills I know he must have from his years as a legislator,” said Representative Stephanie Murphy of Florida, who had been one of the moderate Democrats demanding an immediate vote on a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, convinced that was what the president wanted — or at least needed. She called Mr. Biden’s refusal to push harder for legislation he had embraced “disappointing and frustrating.”
Rep. Murphy was apparently too polite to mention that Biden was not only refusing to embrace the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill he expended a lot of political capital to get the Senate to pass, he actually — incredibly — lobbied against it.
Politico:
“The fact that the president came to the Hill and whipped against his own bill is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
That late-night observation was just one of many we heard from frustrated lawmakers and senior aides stunned by what happened in the House on Friday.
— What senior Dems thought was going to happen: President JOE BIDEN was coming to the Hill to support Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s efforts to rally the party behind his historic $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan ahead of a Friday vote.
— What ended up happening instead: Biden told them he wanted to hold off on BIF until there was a reconciliation deal — even if that means delaying the vote for several more days or even weeks.
The BIF — Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework — was not supposed to be linked to the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. In fact, Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised the dozen or so moderate House members that a “hard date” to vote on the bipartisan deal would be September 27. She made that promise to get the moderates to support moving the reconciliation bill to the floor for consideration.
But the moderates were double crossed by Biden and his radical allies. There was no vote on September 27 and there won’t be a vote until the reconciliation package is ready to be voted on.
That may be weeks or months.
Heading into last week, both the moderates and the progressives felt as if they had ironclad promises: the moderates, that a vote on infrastructure would happen before October; the liberals, that the bill, a crucial part of the president’s domestic agenda, was inextricably twinned with their higher priority, the more expansive measure addressing climate change and the frayed social safety net.
The liberals, however, used their larger numbers to blockade the infrastructure bill — and they said they did it for Mr. Biden. Representative Ilhan Omar, a left-wing Democrat from Minnesota and one of the leaders of the blockade, stood before reporters last week and said the blockaders were the ones “trying to make sure that the president has a success.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New York summed up the moderates’ frustration. “This far-left faction is willing to put the president’s entire agenda, including this historic bipartisan infrastructure package, at risk. They’ve put civility and bipartisan governing at risk.”
Of course, they have. They’re radicals. What else would you expect? Radicals are about winning. They want to win because they believe they’re right — fervently, and without question. Anyone who gets in their way — from the president on down — will get steamrolled.
A government run by radical leftists may not be ideal, but it will get things done. For Biden, that’s all that really matters.
Source: PJ Media
