“I belong to no organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”
It has been nearly a hundred years since humorist Will Rogers delivered maybe the best synopsis of the world’s oldest political party.
Nothing much has changed. Republicans fall into line like students at a military school, while as good a description as any of Democrats is that organizing them is like herding cats.
This past week’s election results, in which the Democrats lost the Virginia governorship and barely hung on to win in New Jersey, is already being misinterpreted by the media. We’re hearing that Democrats moved too far to the left to make voters comfortable, but that’s ridiculous.
Democrats don’t lose because of ideology.
They lose because of a lack of competence.
Joe Biden has been president for nearly 10 months, and until yesterday, very little that is good had been accomplished. The problem is Democrats have no majority (50-50 plus the vice president) in the Senate and a tiny majority in the House.
They finally got Biden’s infrastructure bill passed but only because there were enough Republican votes on both sides.
On more controversial issues that matter to Republicans, there is little or no chance to get them through Congress and onto Biden’s desk. Even on issues that might pass the Senate through reconciliation (51 votes instead of 60), Democrats need to determine how much their most conservative members will accept.
They also need to stop wasting time trying to get Republicans to support them. In the end, GOP leadership will not allow it.
The 2022 off-year elections look to be difficult ones for Democrats, but incompetence and complaining about Republicans will only make it worse.
They need to decide what they can accomplish and then get it done.
Everything else is just cats running wild.