Biden, Democrats risk everything unless they follow the Clinton pivot (they won’t)

The year was 1994, the president was Bill Clinton. And the young president, the first Democrat to take the Oval Office since Jimmy Carter, was having a rough year despite his party controlling the House and Senate. On Oct. 20, 1994, Clinton was sitting at just 41 percent approval. 

The midterms would come next, leading to a Republican gain of 54 seats in the House of Representatives thanks largely to Rep. Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) “Contract with America.” The GOP would also gain eight seats in the Senate to take both houses of Congress, along with 10 additional governorships. 

This wasn’t a wave but a red tsunami. Clinton’s original agenda was in serious trouble, as were his chances of winning reelection in 1996.

“I think I have some responsibility for it,” the 42nd president said after the votes were counted. “I’m the president. I’m the leader of the efforts that we have made in the last two years, and to whatever extent we didn’t do what the people wanted us to do or they were not aware of what we had done, I must certainly bear my share of responsibility.” 

Clinton then did something that would be met with horror and outrage among today’s progressives. He pivoted and began to work with the opposition party. And in early 1996, after passing welfare reform with then-House Speaker Gingrich, Clinton made a declaration that was downright Reagan-esque:

“We know Big Government does not have all the answers. We know there’s not a program for every problem. We have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington. And we have to give the American people one that lives within its means.

“The era of big government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves. Instead, we must go forward as one America, one nation working together to meet the challenges we face together. Self-reliance and teamwork are not opposing virtues; we must have both.”

Imagine the reaction of the Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wing of the Democratic Party, or the editorial board of the New York Times, if any prominent Democrat – let alone the current president Joe Biden – made such a declaration about the U.S. government not having all the answers, about there not being a government program for every problem, about the era of Big Government being over.

The same howls we’ve seen lately that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) should switch parties because she isn’t towing the party line would be aimed at Clinton in the current environment. 

But Clinton’s pivot was largely embraced by voters in 1996, leading to an easy victory over Republican nominee Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and Reform Party nominee Ross Perot, including in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Arizona and Missouri. 

Fast forward to 2021. The 46th president is also polling in the low 40s. Two polls (Quinnipiac and Zogby) even have Biden at 37 percent and 36 percent approval, respectively. One major reason is patently horrific messaging on the part of the Biden-Harris administration, which often defies logic and basic math. 

The president’s claim that his proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill will cost Americans “zero dollars” was called “mythical” and “misleading” by a Washington Post fact-checker. 

President Biden’s claim that his spending plan “costs zero dollars” gets 2 Pinocchios from The Washington Post fact checker https://t.co/x26D1Wd4Ok via @GlennKesslerWP

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) September 29, 2021

I strongly support the new infrastructure plan.

It is not costless. https://t.co/ASNnWXtJNB

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 27, 2021

The administration also claims that trillions of dollars in new spending will not put the country further into debt but doesn’t offer much proof. 

REPORTER: “Does the President still believe that Build Back Better will not add a dime to the national debt?”

PSAKI: “Correct, it won’t.”

REPORTER: “Why should Americans believe that?”

PSAKI: “Because it won’t.”

*Tries to move on to another question* pic.twitter.com/c3jkmgtneM

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 19, 2021

 But the Congressional Budget Office says the standalone $1 trillion “hard infrastructure” bill would add more than $250 billion to the deficit. Again, that’s without the additional $2.5 trillion in social spending currently proposed. 

CBO says bipartisan infrastructure bill would add $256 billion to deficit over 10 years https://t.co/a9Q5wOICWc pic.twitter.com/fIxCGcmcob

— The Hill (@thehill) August 5, 2021

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also claimed that Republicans are responsible for wanting to defund the police. The Washington Post called the claim “slipshod.”

Psaki AGAIN says Republicans are the ones who actually want to defund the police. pic.twitter.com/ZSPD64bMnf

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) June 28, 2021

Whether it’s refusing to call the crisis at the border a crisis, or insisting that skyrocketing inflation is only “transitory” or a problem only impacting the rich, or claiming that al Qaeda is “gone” from Afghanistan, the Biden administration desperately needs to pivot. On approach. On messaging. On policy. And especially on trying to run the country via one-party rule and executive orders. 

If it doesn’t, Democrats are looking at a Republican House and the possibility of losing up to 50 seats in the lower chamber. They’re also looking at a Republican-controlled Senate, where the GOP needs a net-gain of just one seat. 

And they may even be looking at the real possibility of Biden-Harris not being the party nominees in 2024. 

Quinnipiac poll: Biden approval among independents down to *28* (!) percent.https://t.co/jVhjWWS1g4

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) October 19, 2021

Because when you’re polling at 28 percent among independents, that begs for a change in course. 

President Clinton changed course after taking a shellacking in 1994. He worked with the other side. He showed the American people that the government can work when it works together.  

Team Biden has shown little inclination to do that, underscored by its insistence to link the $2.5 trillion social spending bill to the bipartisan hard infrastructure bill that a solid majority of the public supports. 

No pivot, no more power. The prospect is staring this hobbled president in the face — so far only to be met by a blind eye. 

Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist for The Hill.