Gotta hand it to the Democrats for a very politically savvy move in getting an agreement on their BBB/Inflation Reduction Act. Having Manchin play dead on that bill so well that Republicans went ahead and signed the CHIPS bill and then a few hours later come out with basically a full revival of the BBB that Manchin ahs agreed to sign is some serious gamesmanship. Maybe they have finally learned a thing or two from Mitch McConnell after all.
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And angry GOP senators tanked the PACT act as retribution, which is a shame as it’s one of the few bipartisan efforts of late. Hurting veterans to own the libs is really something.
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And Susan Collins wringing her hand over whether the Gays can still marry because of it.
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Honestly if R’s are stupid enough to vote that down and go run on it this fall they are really stupid.
I think the R’s involved in tanking PACT are well aware that American voters’ attention spans and memories are so short that it won’t be relevant when they come up for reelection.
It’s the tragedy of American politics – go extreme to win your party’s primary, and then try to be the lesser evil from the swing voters’ viewpoint for the general election.
Democrats should be targeting commercials against those Republicans on this issue. Seems like a winning strategy.
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Democrats do operate with political savvy. Sinema refused to vote yes until her donors’ demands were met to remove the carried interest tax increase. Isn’t that so cool?!?
And I say “donor” but the details seem quite a bit more embarrassing than just that. She interned at some winery owned by TPG Capital co-founder Bill Price for a measly ~$1,000 in 2020, but then her PAC had an event at this Three Sticks Winery as one of the stops on a “Weekend of Wine and Food” tour of California wineries.
Sinema’s Getting Stuff Done PAC asked individuals and political-action-committee representatives for a $5,000 contribution to participate.
Business Insider has this scoop. So savvy.
Sinema and Manchin have used their positions as potential tie-breaking votes to raise funds from both sides. Manchin appears to sometimes be taking positions that buck the Dems but make sense with his history (like backing coal mining when he comes from a coal state and invests in the industry). My impression of Sinema is that she’s for sale to the highest bidder. That’s of course not unusual among congresscritters, but if she were my senator I would not be happy. The carried interest thing is a great example, as I would imagine that benefits nearly 0% of her constituency and most would not support it. I’m sure she got paid well for that.
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Frankly, I don’t think I’m knowledgeable enough to comment competently on this.
What do y’all think?
(About the tweet, not my competence. I think we can all agree on the latter)
Too early to tell. Based upon what is currently projected nothing is going to happen in the last two years of his presidency. I would actually rank Nixon after LBJ despite the fact he was a mass murderer in foreign policy and a criminal with respect to certain aspects of domestic policy…
Everyone is always trying to compare themselves to Lebron
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iDK seems a reach but might be.
Nixon got clean water and clean air act and EPA but I wouldn’t say they were Republican priorities even at the time and Republicans have been trying to limit, repeal, gut as much of it as the can ever since.
ford and Cater didn’t really have any big policy wins to speak of, though Ford signed ERISA and Carter did pave the way for what would eventually be the micro-brew industry in America so he’s got that.
Reagan got tax cuts for the rich, social security overhaul and exploding deficits to fund h8m military.
GHWB read my lips…that didn’t work out too well for him.
Clinton was the most successful Republican ever. welfare reform, tough on crime bill, made sure gay marriage wouldn’t be recognized for awhile, ran budget surpluses. Though he did get some good stuff like head start most of his political agenda went up in flames with his wife running point on healthcare reform.
GWB - more tax cuts for the rich, 2 wars, a huge expansion of Medicare, and big bloated new government agency but not much else to show except for massive recessions bookending his 8 years.
Obama, Obamacare and 6 years of Senate obstruction.
Trump - more tax cuts but no policy stuff to speak of.
Biden - Infastructure week became a reality, PACT for veterans, Abouth half his BBB in the new inflection bill.
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Also CHIPS/Science and gun legislation for Biden this summer, though I’m sure the others had a few that are missing too.
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Whoever had the best legislative record since LBJ ranks a long ways below LBJ in that regard. No successor really stands out.
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Interesting to compare LBJ legislative record:
Clean Air Act
Major Tax Cuts
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Medicare
Medicaid
War on Poverty Programs
Increased Education Funding
Immigration Reforms
Just too bad about that SE Asia war that tarnished his record.
Having control of the presidency and both houses for his first 2 years, basically only passing tax cuts and ballooning the deficit is a pretty weak accomplishment. There was always going to be the most beautiful infrastructure bill or a fabulous healthcare plan “next week”.
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And a shining wall and immigration reform. But his stocking the court with 3 Heritage Foundation stooges will advance conservative causes for decades to come. That might be more of MCconnel accomplishment than Trump though.
Agree this is quite the legacy of his presidency, but not a legislative accomplishment for him. A combo of dumb luck on people dying, and McConnell effectively blocking an Obama nominee and hypocritically ramming another through at the last minute. I believe McConnell’s behavior will mean that no president will ever get to nominate a SC justice again if the Senate is controlled by the other party.
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Yeah, I think you need to handicap politicians according to the hand they are dealt.
Trump passing tax cuts was a big win, though perhaps every other R could have done the same.
Losing on immigration was weak. I think he could have had his wall and he lost it.
Healthcare reform is tough (who would have thought) and I can imagine many politicians failing similarly.
The SCOTUS appointments were major, but also free.
He also passed up an easy opportunity to “lead” during the pandemic.
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It is hard to be objective in evaluating legislation as one naturally gives more weight to legislation that fits one’s own perspective. As someone who is socially liberal, I give high marks to LBJ’s legislative efforts but someone else might denounce them. What can’t be argued is that they were significant. For the subsequent presidents there was little that was significant, including Biden. Comparing them to LBJ, is like comparing the American swimmers that have followed Michael Phelps to Michael Phelps.
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