Do you know who is polling higher than any other Democratic senator right now? It’s the guy who was accused by a former presidential campaign chief of “single-handedly destroying humanity.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) currently sits at 57 percent approval in West Virginia. He has climbed to this impressive number for a Democrat in a deep red state by defying President Biden and almost all his party on everything from the multi-trillion-dollar spending boondoggle ironically called “Build Back Better” and blowing up the filibuster to federalizing voting laws earlier this year and climate change legislation this week. In a related story, Biden sits at 16 percent approval in the Mountain State.
The growing buzz lately is that Democratic lawmakers do not want Biden to seek a second term. Given that the president is at 33 percent approval overall and sits in the 20s among independents, the nervousness and quiet panic occurring in the Blue Team huddle is understandable. And it’s not just lawmakers who would prefer not to see “Biden: The Sequel” in 2024, but Democratic voters themselves, with almost two-thirds saying no thanks to Biden pursuing a second act, according to a recent poll.
The names tossed around as possible Biden replacements as the party nominee are mostly those whom Biden bested in 2020: Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and even former Rep. and current Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke (no, really). The most logical choice, arguably, would be Manchin, who has clearly shown an ability to woo Republican and independent voters.
“No matter what spending aspirations some in Congress may have, it is clear to anyone who visits a grocery store or a gas station that we cannot add any more fuel to this inflation fire,” Manchin said in a July 13 statement while calling inflation “a clear and present danger to our economy.”
In making this argument, the senator sounds like a former president who finished his two terms in the White House as the most popular president to exit the White House since Harry Truman: Bill Clinton, who left the Oval Office with a 65 percent approval rating and won reelection four years earlier quite comfortably despite struggling mightily in his first two years in office.
Much of Clinton’s success hinged on his decision to pivot to the middle by signing welfare reform and overseeing budget surpluses.
So what Manchin is saying here makes perfect sense if political logic and fiscal sanity is your thing: Inflation is a cruel tax on everyone, especially those in the low and middle classes whose budgets are already stretched thin. So, what’s his party’s solution? To spend more money, of course.
“When we’re having this discussion, it’s important to dispel some of those who say, well it’s the government spending [fueling inflation] — no, it isn’t,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) argued recently, and she was serious. “The government spending is doing the exact reverse, reducing the national debt. It is not inflationary.”
If you believe this, then you also lament that the $5.5 trillion Build Back Better bill did not pass, because in Pelosi’s universe, injecting this kind of money into the economy would have lowered inflation from the current 41-year-high of 9.1 percent.
Democrats can still gain some small legislative victories ahead of the midterms, which are less than 110 days away. For example, prescription drug reform and health care subsidies are two areas that are supported by a solid majority of American voters. But as far as any additional massive spending, Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have rightly put on the brakes.
No matter: Here’s what Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta had to say about Manchin’s most recent opposition to climate change legislation last week.
“It seems odd that Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity,” Podesta declared.
“Rage keeps me from tears,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) tweeted last week regarding Manchin’s veto.
“History will not be kind to those who stand in the way of action,” wrote Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), also on Twitter. “If there is anyone left to write it.”
The headlines have been no better.
The Washington Post: “White House sidelined as Manchin again crushes Biden’s policy ambitions.”
The Guardian: “’A modern-day villain:’ Joe Manchin condemned for killing US climate action.”
The New York Times: “Biden Concedes Defeat on Climate Bill as Manchin and Inflation Upend Agenda.”
At least The Times mentioned inflation in its headline, because Manchin said it is the number one reason why he did what he did.
And therein lies the rub: President Biden and his party have lost the trust of the average American voter when it comes to economic prognostications. Things in this department went south once we were told repeatedly in 2021 that rising inflation was simply transitory, nothing to be terribly concerned about.
When that proved false, the president’s handlers decided to create” #PutinPriceHike” in blaming the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine for rising inflation, even though it had been rising since February 2021 to levels not seen since the early 1980s.
So, when we hear from those in power that climate change legislation will reduce health and electricity costs, cut the deficit and strengthen the economy, it’s easy to be skeptical. The skeptics include Sen. Joe Manchin, the voice of reason in a party that is increasingly veering to the left.
This isn’t Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party anymore. And, therefore, it isn’t Manchin’s either. But instead of attacking the West Virginia senator, it might be a good exercise to stop and ponder why he’s so popular outside Washington.
Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist.