The incredible shrinking presidency

For a guy who spent nearly 40 years in the U.S. Senate and 8 as Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden sure comes off as politically inept.

A mere 12 hours after the University of Georgia football won its first national championship in 41 years, Biden and VP Kamala Harris traveled to the Peach State Tuesday morning in an attempt to revive support for a "voter rights" bill. 

Unfortunately for team Biden, there were a couple nagging issues before they even uttered a word Tuesday. First, Stacey Abrams, arguably the state's most visible Democrat making a push for voter reforms, would not even be in attendance. She's also going to be the 2022 Dem candidate for Governor yet couldn't be bothered to be seen with the highest ranking elected official in her party (Huh. I wonder why). And second, many Georgians were likely still hungover due to celebrating the Georgia Bulldogs' huge victory the night before. I'm certain the last thing on their mind was to attend a political gathering. 

Once Biden finally got around to taking the podium, his divisive speech was full of lies and demagoguery, on which, of course, Republicans POUNCED.

As Erick Erickson explains, team Biden flat out does not have a firm grasp on reality. 

Here’s the problem for Democrats and I genuinely and sincerely mean this not as a partisan talking point, but as the objective truth. You can’t sell voters on this as the defining issue when they are struggling with pocketbook issues. You can’t make this your legacy when people are scared to go back to work over a virus. You can’t campaign on this when your own party cannot even pass it because of your party’s own opposition to it.

Joe Biden managed to piss off and incite Republicans at the same time his base is getting demoralized because they control it all and can’t get this passed. They actually won’t get this passed. It was dead before Biden even went to Georgia and it was dead because of Democrats, not Republicans.

I know Democrats care passionately about this. But in listening to the old white guys who pontificate on television, they’re going to lose in November. That, frankly, is the hilarious irony here. Jon Meacham has never won an election, but he’s about to cost the Democrats everything by virtue of Biden and Ron Klain giving disproportionate attention to men like him.

Politics 101 is very simple: don’t risk your political capital on a cause you fundamentally cannot get passed, particularly when you can’t pass it because of your own party. Joe Biden and Ron Klain don’t get that. Because they don’t get that, the Republicans will get the wins in 2022.

The elevator scene in the 1980 horror flick The Shining immediately comes to mind. 

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