Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Joe Biden says and does a lot of smart things. It’s part of the reason he got himself elected to the Senate, and it’s part of the reason Barack Obama decided, “This guy’s going to be my running mate.”
Joe Biden says a lot of other things too, and one reminded me exactly why he’s never been a serious contender for the Oval Office. Monday night was one of those times.
During a fundraiser, Biden talked about how he would work with Republicans once he was president.
“With Trump gone, you’re going to begin to see things change,” Biden said. “Because these folks know better. They know this isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing.”
This is the “bring a spork to a knife fight” attitude that ensures Democrats lose the most important elections. Regardless of whether he’d be a better president than Donald Trump, if Biden truly believes Trump is the reason Republicans don’t work with Democrats, he’ll never get anything done if he somehow wins in 2020.
He should have known better. The night he and Obama were celebrating the inauguration, the most powerful Republicans in Congress met at a D.C. steakhouse and resolved they would oppose the Obama administration on everything. A few days into the new session of Congress, Sen. Mitch McConnell said his No. 1 goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president.
But yet, Democrats kept aiming to compromise and usually ended up negotiating with themselves. It happened with the stimulus bill, as Republicans met with Obama to inject their own ideas and then unanimously voted against it.
When there was a move among the Democratic majority to provide universal healthcare, Medicare for All and public options were starting points. But Democrats weakened the legislation for Republican votes, and adopted a plan first proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation. It got zero Republican votes, and when Republicans took the House they voted to repeal it dozens of times.
When Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, Republicans decided Democratic presidents are only presidents for three years and refused to fill the vacancy. Conservatives unearthed a 1992 clip of Sen. Biden arguing it was inappropriate to nominate a justice days before the party conventions. The 2016 party conventions were still four months away, but the seat stayed vacant due to the “Biden Rule.” Biden called the argument ridiculous, but Republicans kept running with it and Donald Trump filled the seat.
If Republicans “know this isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing,” then why were they doing it before Trump showed up? And what makes you think they’ll stop after Trump is gone?
I think the one thing “these folks know better” is that winning elections is about not giving an inch on your values, beliefs and policy.
Kevin Wilson is editor of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: