Everything’s coming up Biden
Just how good are things going for President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party these days? Even the mainstream media is starting to admit that Biden and the Democrats are on a winning streak – and the media is now being forced to ask whether that hot streak can continue, in an attempt at sounding relevant to the process. But given that we’re only about ninety days from the midterms, the real question is whether this ongoing winning streak is going to be enough to help the Democrats pull off the historically rare feat of winning the midterms two years after retaking the White House.
Cynics and clueless types will accuse the Democrats of having waited until now to finally “do something” in order to try to turn around their own fortunes. But that’s not how anything works. Biden spent months putting a multipronged plan into action to bring gas and oil prices down. Chuck Schumer spent a long time gradually finding leverage points against Manchin and Sinema and gradually chipping away at them until they finally caved on the kind of dream legislation that every Democrat spends a lifetime wishing they could put into effect.
This goes for other related good news as well. It understandably took the CIA a long time to hunt down the leader of Al Qaeda – a needle in a haystack – before Biden could give the order to take him out. The January 6th Committee had to spend a year busting heads behind the scenes in order to break the dam and put on the kinds of public hearings we’ve been seeing. And the DOJ had to spend a long time flipping lower level January 6th people upward before it could successfully penetrate Trump’s inner circle – which is now happening – and attempt to flip that inner circle against Trump.
When you work hard and you work smart and you aim for meaningful and sustainable long term results, instead of just pandering to the narrative of the day, you tend to eventually get the results you’ve been pursuing. That approach may not have sat well with the media, who needed something to write about each day, or with the short attention span political enthusiasts who care more about a daily adrenaline rush than actually making things better. But it was the correct approach nonetheless.
Now the question is whether the massive damage that the ratings-hungry media and the retweet-hungry pundit class dishonestly did to the Democrats’ reputation over the past year and a half, is something that can be sufficiently repaired over the next ninety days. The proof is now certainly there that Biden and the Democrats have been kicking ass all along. Much of the media is even acknowledging that the proof is there, even if they are absurdly spinning it as a “shocking comeback” that no one could have seen coming.
But really, this comes down to us. If the media and pundit class is no longer trying to sabotage the midterms, it means the Democrats have a real chance – but only if we all jump in and do the legwork to help spread the word.
Here are four dozen Democratic candidates running in highly competitive House races. Pick one or more of them and get to work. Donate if you can (last minute TV ads help). Sign up for a volunteer shift if you have the time; you can do anything from knocking on doors, to simple data entry from your own home a thousand miles away. If you don’t have time or money, then use your social media pages to promote these candidates. The midterms won’t win themselves. We have to put in the work. And at this point “we” means you. Let’s get to work:
Pat Ryan • Sharice Davids • Elissa Slotkin • Abigail Spanberger • Mike Levin • Greg Stanton • Angie Craig • Chris Pappas • Annie Kuster • Dina Titus • Susie Lee • Steven Horsford • Marcy Kaptur • Hillary Scholten • Josh Harder • Jahana Hayes • Sean Casten • David Trone • Christy Smith • Rudy Salas • Gabe Vasquez • Greg Landsman • Michelle Vallejo • Adam Gray • Eric Sorensen • Frank Mrvan • Jared Golden • Dan Kildee • Emilia Sykes • Jamie McLeod-Skinner • Matt Cartwright • Chris Deluzio • Elaine Luria • Kim Schrier • Yadira Caraveo • Wiley Nickel • Jevin Hodge • Kirsten Engel • Will Rollins • Jay Chen • Cindy Axne • Carl Marlinga • Tom Malinowski • Bridget Fleming • Susan Wild • Nikki Budzinski • Katie Porter • Don Davis • Tony Vargas
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report