Why Are Democrats Acting Like the Sky Is Falling?
In normal times, the Senate moves at a pace that even a French winemaker might consider leisurely. If somehow Democrats were to agree on an incremental reform like forcing Republicans to filibuster on the Senate floor in marathon sessions, it would tie up Congress for months. By historical standards, the passage of Bidens $1.9 trillion stimulus package alone would have been an epic achievement for any president in the past half-century. Then there is the stunning triumph of vaccines over a pandemicand you have a Democratic narrative for the 2022 elections that would have seemed like a fantasy just a year ago. But instead, many Democrats have convinced themselves that the end is nigh. Of course, each week another GOP-led state legislature concocts a new way to make it harder to vote. The record temperatures on the West Coast serve as a reminder that global warming cannot be wished away. But it is impossible to apply this sense of urgency to Congress when you dont have the votes. Demonstrations, fund-raising appeals, and angry interviews on MSNBC are not going to change the daunting arithmetic of Capitol Hill. What Democrats have failed to realize in their despair is that their short-term political future seems far rosier than their downcast demeanor would suggest. While it will be difficultalbeit far from impossibleto hold the House after redistricting, the Senate map for 2022 actually looks somewhat promising. In a reflection of how difficult it is to be Trumpian enough in the modern GOP, Republican incumbents are retiring in potentially winnable states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio. True, there are also vulnerable Democratic incumbents (both Raphael Warnock in Georgia and Mark Kelly in Arizona were elected in 2020 to fill out two-year terms). But a plausible case can be made that, if the economic recovery stays strong, Chuck Schumer will be majority leader in 2023 with an additional vote or two to spare.