I started and restarted writing this post about 10 times now, but it’s really time for me to stop and get this finished, so here we go.
Last night’s vote to cave felt in a lot of ways like getting some great news (winning the elections/winning the lottery) and then suddenly getting a gut punch (eight Dem caucus folks voting to cave/learning a loved one died). It really felt like once again, our elite leaders of our elite institutions failed those of us who are out there doing real work to fight fascism.
The takes have flowed heavily since last night, and you, dear reader, probably have read at least a few of them, so I’ll try not to be a parrot just repeating what I heard. First thing that kind of hit me after the initial “did they really do this shit or is it another Axios hype story gone wrong” was a deep concern about unity within the party. Which makes me feel sick after such a huge night last Tuesday, where Dems of all stripes came out and voted in Dems of all stripes.
I know that everyone loves to focus on DEMS IN DISARRAY, at least within our Wisened DC Media, but there was a time prior to Trump 2.0, during Trump 1.0, and for a period in the Biden administration, when the Democratic Party was relatively united. Progressive leaders like Pramila Jayapal commented about how her caucus felt heard by the Biden administration, and despite the best efforts of Cartoon Villain Senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, Biden managed to pass some pretty progressive legislation. Then Oct. 7 happened, and Our Joe couldn’t help himself as far as helping a far-right authoritarian use a horrifying terror attack as an excuse to kill civilians, because of money in politics, and this split the party in some ugly ways.
But then that seemed to go by the wayside as it became harder and harder to defend Bibi killing children, and then we got Bibi’s BFF back in the White House with no guardrails. This resulted in the No Kings protests, where purple-haired tattoo and piercing enthusiasts on the left marched side-by-side with normie grandparents in a massive show of unity and rejection of Donald Trump. The divisions became less left vs. center and more fight vs. cave, and it appeared like the party was getting the message that we want fight, not capitulation.
Last night, I began thinking about how what just happened could throw that into a tailspin. Now, however, just by reading responses and lurking in rank-and-file Dem haunts, there seems to be a wide consensus that voters are not happy. So, perhaps this has, in an odd way, made the party unity even more intense. I do know that a lot of us feel like our elected officials, especially the moderate ones, hate us more than they do MAGAs because they seem to do much more to appease them than they do us. That could make a lot of us even more determined to force some changes to the party.
The other thing that I thought hasn’t been covered very much is how this caving is yet another example of our elite leaders talking about the importance of an institution and then not doing very much to defend said institution when it’s under threat. I wrote about this last week.
I think, like the Columbia University president who was woefully unprepared to grapple with the fact that Congressional Republicans were using anti-semitism as cover for their ongoing destruction of higher education, The Cave Caucus has a lot of people who do not seem to understand the political moment.
One glaring example:
Shaheen: "When I talk to my constituents in New Hampshire, you know what they say to me? They say, 'Why can't you all just work together to address the problems that are facing this country?'"
Polls don’t really back this up, and even if it were true, does she not understand that Republicans are bad-faith actors, who are going to screw you over? Does she really think that Republicans are going to negotiate over Obamacare? Does she think that the HSA idea is good?
This is incredibly bad and any Democrat who supports it should be primaried.
A key development that appeared to break the logjam in the negotiations was that Senate Republicans proposed that some healthcare funding be provided directly to households rather than be used to pay for a one-year extension of enhanced ACA subsidies.
That GOP proposal involves sending federal money into flexible-spending accounts instead of to insurance companies that use the money to offset the cost of premiums, so consumers pay a smaller monthly bill. The money could be used to cover deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs, which Republicans see as a way to give consumers more choice and control healthcare inflation.
Despite all this, I do agree with Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo here that there are ways for Democrats to salvage this. One point he makes is that Democrats have destroyed Republicans on the affordability issue and Republicans seem to be hell-bent on making healthcare very expensive. In a few months, we go through all this again, and then hopefully the cavers who are saying that another shutdown is not off the table at the end of January is still on the table is the GOP doublecrosses them (which they will) will have a bigger bargaining trip – you guys lied. But we will see.
The last word goes to The Beatles, here passing their audition.
