Dual Narratives At The Highest Level

Two recent stories provide what I think is an insight into high-level thought processes in Washington. The first is from Friday in Politico:

The White House is looking to Sen. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) to help thaw out its frosty relationship with Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) in hopes of resurrecting President JOE BIDEN’s Build Back Better plan.

Two senior Senate sources said that Warner, one of Manchin’s closest friends and his former housemate, will be involved in any future BBB talks. Manchin has said publicly that he’s not negotiating with the White House. Privately, he has been even more pessimistic.

. . . Spokespeople for both Warner and Biden demurred about the specifics of the Virginia senator’s exact role in the effort to win over Manchin.

“Sen. Warner and Sen. Manchin are good friends,” a Warner spokesperson told Playbook. “They talk regularly, sometimes about policy and sometimes just shooting the breeze. I wouldn’t call those conversations ‘negotiations.’”

But yesterday, according to the New York Post,

Sen. Joe Manchin has yanked his proposal for a $1.8 trillion compromise on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan off the table, according to reports — potentially the final nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party’s signature social-spending agenda.

The West Virginia Democrat’s about-face was reported Saturday by the Washington Post, citing three unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

The report came days after Manchin told the media that he was no longer discussing Biden’s long-sought bill with the White House.

. . . With the Senate divided 50-50, lockstep Democratic unanimity is required for the budget bill to become law.

But insiders say he would be a “no” vote even on his own compromise, as a result of the White House’s blistering response when Manchin put the kibosh on the bill in a Dec. 19 Fox News appearance.

As best I can surmise, White House people are doing their best to feed a narrative into legacy media that efforts are still underway to pass the BBB, while Sen Manchin, the most visible obstacle, seems to be increasingly frustrated that his position is being mischaracterized in those efforts. I don't think his Saturday statement is just a coincidence.

Other stories seem to project the same unwarranted optimism:

According to a report, Democrats are so desperate to eliminate the Senate filibuster — which would enable the Democrats, who control the Senate, to pass legislation regarding voting that would be highly favorable to them— that two former presidents and celebrity Oprah Winfrey have contacted Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who is considered the pivotal vote in the Senate, to pressure him into accepting the filibuster’s demise.

Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have joined Winfrey in the cooperative effort to persuade Manchin, according to Politico.

“Manchin has told colleagues that his phone line has been lighting up with prominent names outside the Senate in recent days. He’s heard from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and talk-show legend Oprah Winfrey, plus former staffers to both Manchin and former Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), according to a person familiar with the talks,” Politico reported.

At whom are these stories directed? The public at large is yawning, and indeed, his home state constituency likes him twice as much as they like President Biden. Attempts by the White House to spin things to make it look like Manchin will cave are either feckless or completely counterproductive, which is what we saw yesterday.

So who benefits from the false optimism? I'm convinced it's the current Democrat leadership, Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer, and their immediate staff, who are maintaining their positions by enabling the leadership's fantasy that things are just on the verge of being turned around. But this is nothing but fantasy.

Stein's Law: That which cannot continue must stop.