(RepublicanInformer.com)- As the term implies, Joe Biden was neither a moderate nor a centrist politician. Biden was always at the heart of the Democratic Party as a senator. Despite this, he has demonstrated the ability to triangulate.
So, like Bill Clinton did after the 1994 elections, might he triangulate again after the 2022 midterm elections?
The heaviest blow to Biden’s administration occurred before he was inaugurated when two Democrats won Senate runoff elections in Georgia in January 2021, giving the party a functional majority.
Biden’s inclinations would have been to strike arrangements with his old pal Senator Mitch McConnell before that.
The bipartisan infrastructure proposal would have likely passed even if Republicans had a slim Senate majority. Biden could have considered 2021 a success. He might have claimed credit for bringing the two parties together for significant legislation and enacting an infrastructure program that Barack Obama and Donald Trump had merely promised.
Biden could have used McConnell as a beautiful foil for not pursuing radical measures on election reform or large spending packages on climate change and welfare expansion. Instead, he endorsed all of these foolish initiatives, making him appear like a failure in his first year due to the overshadowing of the infrastructure bill.
Because Democrats control both the House and the Senate, the Biden White House is under pressure from progressives in his party to do more. Top White House employees like Ron Klain and Susan Rice appear to be responding to the extreme elements.
Furthermore, Biden appeared to pay attention to writer Jon Meacham and a group of historians who warned him that his administration might be as meaningful as FDR’s and Johnson’s.
Despite the fact that FDR and LBJ both won landslides in Congress with large majorities, Biden seemed to think this. Biden did not go to the left (albeit not the fringe) of the Democratic Party until after he was elected president. He could have continued to be at the center of his party by wrapping his arms around Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Instead, he’s succeeded in making Manchin and Sinema appear stronger than him.
Triangulation is a political metaphor derived from sailing, in which a sailor tacking with the wind deviates from a route to return to it. As simple as it is to assume that this is how all dishonest politicians work, Clinton was exceptionally adept at it.
Clinton stated, “the era of big government is over,” and with the help of political consultant Dick Morris managed to become Republican-lite while portraying Newt Gingrich as a dangerous Republican.
The answer is that Joe Biden can triangulate in a Clintonesque fashion. Will he?
It’s still early, but Democrats appear to be in serious trouble heading into the 2022 election. We don’t know if the outcome will be similar to 1994 when Republicans took control of the House and Senate.
If that’s the case, would Biden be able to shift as Bill Clinton did after a midterm defeat if that’s the case?
