I am disappointed that Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema are still struggling with supporting President Biden’s recovery bills but I am no surprised. I am actually surprised that so many important people are. If they had ever said yes I am supporting the final bills whatever they are, I just need to iron out a few details. Neither of them ever did. I admit they have been cagey throughout the whole process but I don’t remember them doing anything that would make me think they publicly committed to supporting the bills.

Which sadly brings me to President Biden. I have never been wild about the man but, I have to also admit, that aside from Obama I haven’t really been wild about any of the Democrats running for president. I do vote for them and I will vote for him again if I am given the same choice we had in 2020. This is, however, embarrassing. Someone should have known long before December that Manchin was uncommitted to the deals. Nobody did.

The Democratic Leadership also bear some responsibility in this. It is December, for Christ’s sake. Why are we still messing with these bills? There is a very narrow majority in the Senate – the Vice President’s vote is it. They needed Manchin and Sinema from the beginning. Everyone knows it. There is no point in talking to Republicans so that leaves the two renegade Democrats. The bill had to make these two people happy or it was doomed. Once they committed, then, to show that they indeed backed the bill, Biden and the Democratic Leadership could have tasked them with publicly supporting the bill, going on television, talking about it with reporters. This way if either of them backed out there might be a remote chance that they would be concerned about how this makes them look.

But this isn’t how it happened. The White House allowed the negotiations to drag on for more than a year only to learn at the last minute that Manchin will oppose the one bill. Why are they still dotting i’s and crossing t’s here? It sounds like the bill became weighed down with pork that senators kept adding to the bill because they knew this bill would pass. Now, I like pork as much as the next man but there should be time limit on how long the BBQ continues particularly if you are framing the bills as an urgent matter necessary for the recovery of the country.

Maybe, Manchin pulled a fast on. That’s certainly possible but the senator covered his tracks in such a way that Biden looks like a chump. Now if the Democrats want to pass a bill, they will have to ask Manchin and Sinema to tell the what they want and they will do whatever it is they want to get the bill passed. This would have been far less humiliating for Biden earlier in the year and, more importantly, would have been a much less visible capitulation and done primarily behind closed doors.

If things weren’t bad enough, the White House called Manchin a liar. He may very well be a liar. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least. But if you still need 51 votes to pass your bill, and Manchin is one of the two people you can hope to corral to your side, you might be a bit more judicious in your comments.

It is discouraging to see Biden flailing because I really don’t know where we go from here.