All valid points, but none are making their way outside our echo chambers.
I'm retired and living on a (mostly) fixed but reasonably good income. And I'm stunned by the increases in gas, food, and other prices. Democrats will get their asses kicked up around their shoulders if this doesn't reverse well in advance of next November, Republicans know it, and they will do everything in their power to keep the reversal from happening.
That's not simply because they won't permit ethics to stand in the way of their authoritarian objectives but also because they know if the people feel that Democrats are getting things done, the people might also listen to them about the voting rights bills.
No matter how much Democrats work to sell the argument that voting rights issues are more important, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will remain front and center in the vast majority of the public's collective mind. Get the bills signed, get the Executive Branch to work on getting the money flowing and the Legislative Branch on voting rights, and we may have a shot next November, especially if we make the case "Imagine what we could have gotten done with just two more Senators.". If we pull it off, we have at least two more years to get other progressive agenda items through Congress.
For the first time, I feel like I have a big-picture understanding of the dynamics at play. The forces causing our economic travails aren't the administration's fault, but such problems are always blamed on whoever is president.
One problem that Democrats have is in managing good-ish news. Our image of ourselves as a party is that we fix problems -- short term: recessions, medium term: distribution (CTC, etc.) and long term: growth (infrastructure immigration, the structural deficit, climate change. This is more congruent with a message of give us a chance to clean up the mess claiming credit for non-messes.
The inflation message has been a disaster, partly caused by Summers posing inflation as a reason for caution with the pandemic relief package. Inflation is the Fed's job. It can do anything it wants to and can do with no help from the Administration. Any time the subject of inflation comes up we should just express confidence in J Powell. The Administration's tradeoff is between the deficit and interest rates, but no one knows what the trade off is. And the deficit has to be discussed in terms of taxes which Republicans (and Sinema) are standing in the way of.
All valid points, but none are making their way outside our echo chambers.
I'm retired and living on a (mostly) fixed but reasonably good income. And I'm stunned by the increases in gas, food, and other prices. Democrats will get their asses kicked up around their shoulders if this doesn't reverse well in advance of next November, Republicans know it, and they will do everything in their power to keep the reversal from happening.
That's not simply because they won't permit ethics to stand in the way of their authoritarian objectives but also because they know if the people feel that Democrats are getting things done, the people might also listen to them about the voting rights bills.
No matter how much Democrats work to sell the argument that voting rights issues are more important, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will remain front and center in the vast majority of the public's collective mind. Get the bills signed, get the Executive Branch to work on getting the money flowing and the Legislative Branch on voting rights, and we may have a shot next November, especially if we make the case "Imagine what we could have gotten done with just two more Senators.". If we pull it off, we have at least two more years to get other progressive agenda items through Congress.
Strategy matters.
Great article, this is a much needed summary and easy to understand.
For the first time, I feel like I have a big-picture understanding of the dynamics at play. The forces causing our economic travails aren't the administration's fault, but such problems are always blamed on whoever is president.
One problem that Democrats have is in managing good-ish news. Our image of ourselves as a party is that we fix problems -- short term: recessions, medium term: distribution (CTC, etc.) and long term: growth (infrastructure immigration, the structural deficit, climate change. This is more congruent with a message of give us a chance to clean up the mess claiming credit for non-messes.
The inflation message has been a disaster, partly caused by Summers posing inflation as a reason for caution with the pandemic relief package. Inflation is the Fed's job. It can do anything it wants to and can do with no help from the Administration. Any time the subject of inflation comes up we should just express confidence in J Powell. The Administration's tradeoff is between the deficit and interest rates, but no one knows what the trade off is. And the deficit has to be discussed in terms of taxes which Republicans (and Sinema) are standing in the way of.
“TL;DR”?