Fresh Out of Political Capital, Biden Resorts to Political Theater

All the world’s a stage for President Joe Biden.

That’s the only conclusion Americans could reach following his and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D., N.Y.) insistence that Congress vote on another bill that seemingly has no chance of passing. Schumer announced on Wednesday that he would fast-track two Democratic bills that essentially nationalize the country’s elections, outlawing common-sense practices broadly supported by the public, such as voter ID measures, because far-left op-ed writers and Democratic political action committees say they are racist.

Those bills cannot pass unless Democrats kill the filibuster, something Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) made abundantly clear they won’t do. Reporting suggests that other Senate Democrats also have reservations about eliminating the filibuster, given it could be the one tool their party has to stop a unified Republican Party from causing headaches for Biden should the GOP regain control of Congress in 2023.

Yet Schumer and Biden want a vote on the bills anyway, out of an apparent fear that a pundit on MSNBC may question their passion. Biden went as far as to travel to Georgia to press ahead on legislation that’s already dead—so dead that left-wing activists and Democratic Wonder Woman Stacey Abrams wouldn’t meet with him. Biden put on a show without them, comparing all who opposed the radical voting reform legislation to segregationists and Confederates.

The president’s next stop was the Senate, where he met with members of his party to rally support for the already-dead bill. And after meeting with lawmakers, he admitted as much: “We missed this time,” he told reporters.

Despite that brief acknowledgment of reality, the show must go on. Biden invited Sinema and Manchin over to the White House for a high-profile meeting that failed to move the needle. Schumer is adamant that he will waste the Senate’s time on the bill, even though it’s become apparent that few Americans not employed by left-wing nonprofits are demanding it.

This latest episode raises the question, yet again, of whether Biden and the Democratic Party have given up on trying to govern in favor of scoring points from the media and left-wing activists. Schumer’s wasting precious legislative time to fend off a potential primary challenge isn’t what most would consider stellar leadership.

Americans remain far more concerned about runaway inflation, high crime, or the fact that it feels like just about everyone has, or has recently recovered from, a COVID-19 infection. The administration’s failure to do anything concrete to solve problems people care about is showing up in the polls: Biden’s approval rating fell this week to just 33 percent, matching the polling floor of Donald Trump’s four years in office.

Democrats are not enjoying the show. Far-left activists are unwilling to appear with Biden for even a photo-op, and even his longtime colleagues in the Senate appear unsure of his tactics. One thing is for sure: Republicans are eager to see the next act.

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