Old Joe's Ghost Wears a Dress

I find it odd that more pundits haven’t called the crisis caused by Manchin and Sinema by the proper historical analogy: they are practicing Democratic McCarthyism.

 

In the U.S. we often reference previous history to describe current scandals. ‘Witch hunt’ hearkens not only the Red Scare, but also the Salem trials. ‘-Gate’ is used for all sorts of scandals, to connect them to the gravity of Nixon’s resignation. ‘Moon shot’, ‘Vietnam’, ‘Katrina’: we use all sorts of historical shorthand. So why aren’t people comparing Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to Senator Joe McCarthy?

 

When one Senator has outsized power, it’s a problem. We have an Executive Branch for that. In the Legislative Branch only the Speaker or Majority Leader should have outsized control the House and Senate. Breakaways muck up the whole works, as we have seen time and again. Manchin and Sinema are doing that now – refusing to use this moment to help the Democratic agenda, and blowing the best opportunity the Democrats have had since the 2010 Tea Party midterms to actually make big changes.

 

Why? No one knows. Sinema, in particular, has decided to be infuriating on this point, refusing to tell anyone what she wants, or why she is opposing the current legislative agenda of the Democratic Party.

 

“I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”

 

How is that infamous quote, and its spotlight-seeking intention, not clearly the same bullshit that Sinema is doing? Get the attention – get everyone focused on her, and keep the attention. Force us to ask her what she wants or what she knows. It’s entirely loathsome, and is going to have devastating consequences if not stopped. When McCarthy wasn’t stopped, it led to years of crisis – McCarthy changed his ‘communist’ numbers frequently, including 57 and 81, and kept the press on tenterhooks. From this unofficial power came the dreadful, and historically shameful, trials.

 

Sinema and Manchin will have devastating consequences for the opposite reason: neither is likely to be in power in a few years, especially Sinema, who trails the other Democratic Senator in popularity in her home state. What Senators Manchin and Sinema have chosen to block are widely popular, and clearly beneficial, social programs. Paid family leave. Universal pre-K. Infrastructure hangs in the balance. Tackling climate change. Expanding Medicare to cover dental and vision.

 

Presumably, in the midterms, the Democrats will take a drubbing. That’s typical. That’s also only a year away, one year until Biden’s agenda is foiled in either the House, Senate, or both. (It could be offset by passing popular legislation, but that’ll only do so much.) It’s also a best-case scenario: what happens if one of the octogenarian Senators dies between now and next year?

 

So pressure is on to get this shit done. This isn’t even the emboldened agenda that some folks hoped for: the John Lewis Voting Rights Act seems unlikely to be passed, the end of the filibuster is inexplicably as distant as ever, the statehood of Puerto Rico and/or D.C seem to be non-starters.

 

Manchin and Sinema care as much about debt and the price tag as McCarthy cared about communism – not at all. They don’t give a damn. Democrats can disagree on things, and Manchin already sticks out with things like not supporting abortion rights. But not wanting to lift people out of poverty, and support working- and middle-class Americans? That’s what they’re blocking by refusing to sign on, and one would think it’s the very least to expect of a member of the Democratic Party. But Sinema and Manchin (who both voted down the minimum wage increase) clearly don’t give a damn about the people: just their campaign donors, the wealthy corporations, who will fight to keep them in power. In the spotlight.

 

As Ezra Klein pointed out in his insightful article in today’s Times, the Democrats are very unlikely to remain in power much longer, almost certainly not by 2022. If Manchin and Sinema screw this up they’ll convince a generation of voters that Democrats can’t get anything done even if they are in power – and they’ll be right. The Senators’ narcissism and need for attention is going to devastate this nation: the same disastrous way McCarthy’s did.