Manchin's plan all along may have been pretense, vote "NO" and blame it on the progressives!
Almost Heaven
All my memories gathered 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye--Take Me Home Country Roads by John Denver
The state of West Virginia’s state song begins with the words ”Almost heaven” which Joe Manchin borrowed as the name of his Washington, D.C. houseboat moored on the Potomac. There, the Senator is known to host bi-partisan parties for colleagues, seemingly unaware of how the irony of his rather lavish lifestyle compares to that of his landlocked constituents. He is currently best known for holding hostage and then killing the Biden plan to provide those services that would greatly benefit West Virginians. But Senator Manchin professes to have a better plan, one he just cannot seem to put his arms around. He knows one thing, however, Bidens Build Back Better bill has flaws that pop up randomly like the plastic moles in a Whack-a-Mole game. It seems that the Democrats in both the House and Senate have been negotiating with a cipher since the summer. In effect, there was never another side to bargain with—Joe Biden was dickering with himself as Manchin hammered away at the attempts by Democrats to meet his demands. All those times Biden invited Manchin to his homes—in Washington and Delaware— I suggest that the West Virginian was bargaining in a fit of epic bad faith that may well end for him with unintended consequences.
The Manchin plan
What if Manchin never intended to vote for the BBB bill in any form? What if his self-imposed red lines were just a ruse to hide his intentional desire to sabotage the bill? And what if his true intention all along was a ploy to have the president and his party give up on principle and move on, tucking their donkey tails between their legs? After all, progressives were looking to pass a $6 trillion bill then bargained themselves down to $3.5 trillion to satisfy his faux distress over dollars and optics. Here was Manchin’s take early in the process:
--Politico, September 30, 2021
In fact, perhaps Manchin felt he was in trouble after the Georgia runoff election gave Democrats control of the Senate. If I am right, Manchin never thought that Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff would pull off the twin victories that would inconvenience Manchin to no end. A Republican majority would protect him from having to account for his votes on Democratic policy staples like climate change, social program spending, and Big Pharma reforms. In the minority, he could vote “yes” and rely on Republicans to protect his interests— or vote “no” with little consequence. Manchin is compromised in near all areas addressed by the BBB agenda with his family interests in fossil fuels and pharmaceuticals. The rise in power of the progressive caucus in his party was a direct threat to him and his donors. A Mitch McConnell-controlled Senate would maintain his cover as a Republican in Democratic clothing. Life would be far less difficult in the minority.
To call Manchin a traitor is neither helpful nor particularly insightful. Manchin is under the spell of a well-known and rather pedestrian force—greed. His own personal wealth— the showy Maserati and splashy yacht on display now for everyone to see—are now part of the collateral damage to his open fight with Biden. There was a time when his arrogance and selfishness could fly under the radar. No more, Joe has become a household name, and his near anonymity as 1 out of 100 has been lost. We all know about the yacht parties and his coal interests. We now know about his wife’s pharma-ties and his daughter’s role in the pharmaceutical EpiPen price-gouging scandal that is the basis of a lawsuit filed against her.
How else do we explain the rationale he gives for voting against the priorities not only of his party but even more so of his constituents? While he is safe in his position due to his recent (2018) reelection, Joe is 74 years old. He may have thought that 2024 was enough time for voters to forget his betrayal of his party and sell-out of his constituents. Time will tell, but his recent actions suggest that Manchin fears the worst. Defying this president in a state that voted overwhelmingly for the previous one is a desperate move, not one of strength or principle. He’s hedging his bet on a Trump 2024 run, meanwhile relying on the patience and magnanimity of his “friend” Joe Biden. As FDR once warned about similar “selfish men”:
“We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests.”
Joe Manchin is a small and selfish man. I believe that he never intended to vote for one dollar in spending for the For the People Act. He is engaged in a high-stakes game of blame-shifting. He hoped that party progressives would be the ones to blow up the bill and show themselves intransigent spendthrifts of the public coffers. He expected them to revert to form and act on principle. What may have surprised him was their sense of purpose and a determination to negotiate in good faith. While Manchin provided them with a constantly moving target, they compromised and moved from their original number to $1.7 million. They agreed to nearly meet Manchin’s low-ball counter-proposal of $1.5---a figure he considered a dealbreaker. Progressives—smarter and more principled—called his bluff.
When you find yourself in a hole...
What we heard on FOX News on Sunday wasn’t the message of someone who had won the argument, his response was hollow, lacking a clear rationale, and defensive---the words of a loser. Fox was the perfect platform for Manchin to declare his independence from the progressive wing of his party, an exercise in scapegoating and gaslighting the truth about BBB—it is rather popular among a majority of all Americans. Manchin, for the sake of money and power, has been willing to sell out his party, the nation, and those who elected him over the years. His performance Sunday was pathetic and the excuses he gave both on-air and afterward were even worse. His concerns about the effects of the bill on inflation have been disputed by economists. His fears that the bill contains too many goodies for future budgets to sustain fails the “read the room” rule. People are suffering now and the provisions that promise relief to low and middle-class citizens are long overdue. These are the folks who have long borne the weight of economic growth that has provided the wealthy with undeserved dividends. The bill currently polls extremely well nationwide (61%) and in his home state (65%):
--Data for Progress, December 8, 2021
If there was any doubt that Manchin sensed that he was shoveling his way out of the hole he had found himself, a Huffington Post reported story added depth to his dilemma:
As Republicans have offered him a better shovel, Manchin has decided to dig in and play the short game in his battle with progressives who seem to have their finger firmly on the pulse of America. Manchin’s bet that he could outlast them and show them to be shrill and unyielding may well backfire. Progressives have proven to be wiser and more patient. Whatever the end result, Joe Manchin has some “’splainin’” to do to his party, the voters in West Virginia, and to what may be left of his conscience. The next visitor aboard Almost Heaven ought to whisper in Manchin’s good ear, a bit of advice: Ditch the dinghy. Get aboard the ship of state and start rowing.