Biden signed the debt ceiling bill today. Huzzah. Since there shouldn’t even be a debt ceiling it’s always a little bizarre to celebrate. But there was no default and Biden managed to let them extract as small a pound of flesh as we probably could have hope for.
He spoke from the Oval Office last night and patted himself on the back for his success in making bipartisan deals. It is rather surprising that he managed to get a few GOP senators on board for the infrastructure bill, CHIP act and gun safety. And apparently, the MAGA caucus is saving its energy for the more important Hunter Biden laptop investigation and layed out of this one. None of this actually indicates that the right wing has sobered up and found sanity. It’s obvious that it hasn’t.
Neither does it indicate that Biden has a magic touch for bipartisan legislation. All of this is Democratic Party driven and is largely successful because the left, understanding the threat of right wing power, is being a team player. But it is good for Biden’s presidential campaign.
His approval numbers are anemic to say the least, but that just seems to be the way it is for presidents in this sour, polarized era. In head to head match-ups with the Republicans it shows a close race with Biden usually coming out on top. Of course that’s meaningless this early. However, one thing that polling always shows is that people want elected leaders to “work together” and “compromise.” (And what they really mean is that they want their leaders to enact their preferred agenda by co-opting the other side.) That’s what Biden has done pretty well.
I don’t know if this argument will sell. This grouchy mood appears to be dragging on despite the material improvements in people’s lives perhaps because the right is getting more and more aggressively radical, which contributes to the sense of chaos and anarchy. But if the Democrats can just keep their heads and continue to methodically present themselves as the calm, competent party in contrast to the demonstrably batshit opposition, they should be able to get the turnout they need of both Democrats and Independents to win in 2024. They just need to make sure that this argument that Biden has gotten bipartisan cooperation is seen by his own voters as a Dark Brandon jiujisu move not a sell-out.