We'll get to Russia later in the column, but first much has been said today about President Biden's sagging poll numbers, a stalled agenda and his promise to govern with unity and not division. In this case, we have to take the last one first. To govern with unity, it takes two sides to cooperate and negotiate in good faith. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) has proven to be one Republican seeking bipartisanship. However, that can not be said for the rest of his Republican colleagues writ large.
As Chuck Todd pointed out, there are 147 Republicans in the House who are on record saying that Joe Biden isn't the duly-elected president, hence making bipartisanship a complete nonstarter. Speaking about the group of 12 moderate Republicans in the Senate, Mr. Romney said that the president made no attempt of outreach on voting rights. Clearly a mistake as the administration should have made the attempt even if they were only to get the support of half of that group. It would have demonstrated the action of bipartisan outreach and then the onus would have been on Republicans.
The problem is the Administration and Democrats are preoccupied, justifiably, with their two conservative senators who, let's face it, are singularly responsible for stalled agenda and hence the president's sagging poll numbers. Also responsible for his crappy approval rating is the wet blanket that is the covid pandemic. This week there are complaints about testing... we don't have enough... no one can buy them, etc.
However, let's do a little math. The United States has a population of 330 million and 63 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, which is approximately 210 million people, leaving 110 million people unvaccinated. The politicization and misinformation of the vaccine is not something that any one person alone can fix. No, not even "Mr. I-alone-can-fix-it."
Also, what is all too obvious is the different standard by which we're holding Joe Biden compared to his predecessor. We complain that Mr. Biden did consult with Republicans, as Mitt Romney stated. But when did Mr. Biden's predecessor ever reach out to Democrats for bipartisan legislation?
When asked about the January 6th commission, Mr. Romney explained that it was uncovering information that wasn't previously known and that it is an important and legitimate effort. However, the vast majority of Republicans in congress deny its importance or worse, that the horrors of that day didn't happen.
So we ask, how do we get unity from that?
And on voting rights, we happen to agree wholeheartedly with Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) that a vote should be held and that the American people should see where people stand on this fundamental issue. We want to know! And to Mr. Todd's point that it could point out further divisions in the Democratic party, one could argue that the divisions will only get worse if there isn't the disinfectant of a vote.
As Mr. Clyburn said, "we have to press on." As per James Carville, "we have to 'soldier on.'" It's a slog and in we're in the mud.
And then there's Russia...
It was good that NBC's Andrea Mitchell set the record straight explaining that contrary to what Mr. Romney said, the Biden Administration has done a very good job in coordinating with NATO and its European allies. The current intelligence is that the Russians are planning a false flag operation with Russian troops dressed as saboteurs attacking other Russian troops to create the context for an invasion of Ukraine.
Cynically, and Russians can probably appreciate this, if Putin invades Ukraine it will refocus U.S. foreign policy to be hardline with the Putin regime, which will get bipartisan support. In other words, if Russia wants to stem the divisions in U.S. politics, invade.
It's not a matter of if Russia will take action, only a matter of when.
Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Amna Nawaz, NPR; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Matthew Continetti, American Enterprise Institute
One more thing...
Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) is emblematic of many of us Americans today in that she lacks grace and respect for others
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