(#4508) Biden's dual approach on legislating

      What Joe Biden is doing is very intelligent given the obstructive nature of his own democratic members. With Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema holding onto the idea that bipartisanship is still alive, Joe Biden is making sure that he has another option besides bipartisanship moving forward. I know that Biden wants bipartisanship also but the difference between him and the likes of Manchin and Sinema is that Biden will not take inaction as an outcome. He is purposefully moving forward with plans to go it alone with only democratic votes if needed, whereas neither Manchin nor Sinema have made the same commitment. So when the most likely outcome is the republican party once again playing Lucy while we democrats are Charlie Brown, the football will be moved before Charlie can kick it.
     Joe Biden knows this so that is why the dual track. Either republicans negotiate in good faith, highly unlikely, or he is teed up for the reconciliation route. At that time Manchin and Sinema will face their worst fears, either deny the Biden agenda or help fulfill it. If they don't help the democratic agenda then their legacies within the democratic party will become smoldering ash. As will the hopes and dreams of the majority of us citizens. If they do acquiesce to voting for the reconciliation route then they will have reclaimed most of their dignity and futures within the democratic party and with the majority of Americans.
     It would be my guess that the filibuster will remain as it is and the reconciliation route will pass with a lot of the Biden administration policies passing. However the bigger problem is the voting rights bill which at this point looks to be blocked from passing in time for the 2022 election. The hardcore stance of Manchin and Sinema on keeping the legislative filibuster from further erosion is the likely outcome but the expense may well be the larger picture of democracy which the filibuster works within. Losing our democracy will kill the filibuster as well so the calculation by the two senators should be this; either kill the filibuster in some way to pass voter protection laws or don't do that and then watch the whole of the filibuster and our democracy die at the hands of the republicans. Their choice!