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[-] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

He could get caught trying.

He could frame a big-picture vision of what he and Democrats value, expressed in terms that speak to Americans emotionally. He could push for policies that Republicans and the Supreme Kangaroo Court will shoot down, and then go to the American people and blame them for taking away good things that everybody wants.

The student-loan debt relief effort had about 1 1/2 of those things. The rest of the time he tends to talk about particular bills and policies. Republicans can stop those, and those things become dead letters, but dreams and hopes are evergreen.

[-] Strykker@programming.dev 3 points 3 months ago

It takes immense amounts of time and effort to bring new items like this forwards, so each item you choose to do means time and money that can't be used bringing a different policy forwards.

Based on that why should Biden waste his time developing and bringing forward policies that the Republicans are obviously going to immediately shoot down, it just prevents him from being able to work on things that might actually get passed

[-] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 2 points 3 months ago

No, it really doesn't. I can think them up by the dozens. If they're not going to pass, there's no reason to lay all the groundwork. But they're still good for rhetorical purposes.

[-] Strykker@programming.dev 5 points 3 months ago

Sure you can think up the tag line line liner title for each item but what about all the details? How will they work the restrictions the requirements the funding. How much of that requires large amounts of work just to be shutdown and tossed by the Republicans

[-] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 2 points 3 months ago

This is why Democrats struggle so badly, so I'll say it straight up: It's about sales. Reich is complaining that the public doesn't lose its shit over arcane policy details. Yeah, sit down for this truth bomb (/s): That's human nature. It's not fair. It's not right. It's not good. It's just the way it is. Complaining about it won't help, or change the content of headlines.

So somebody asks for examples of what can Biden do when he's blocked by Congress? I say: Sell, sell, sell. Get in the PR game. Put on a show that the people in the cheap seats can enjoy. (That is a metaphor for a rhetorical spectacle that even politically unengaged citizens will hear about.) Show everybody that the problem is in Congress.

What do the details matter? The headline is all that people will hear, and Republicans will block it, anyway. He needs to sell the perception that Democrats are trying. The details can come later, after they get the votes.

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this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024
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