Democrats wanted a ‘normal’ president to beat Trump. They are paying that price

Over the weekend, Kate Bedingfield, the outgoing White House communications director, had a few pointed words for progressive activists who were frustrated with what they viewed as president Joe Biden’s lacklustre response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade.

“The president has been showing his deep outrage as an American and executing his bold plan, which is the product of months of hard work, ever since this decision was handed down”, she told The Washington Post. That may seem like an unexpected broadside, but it’s a sign of how delicate Biden’s relationship with activists is.

Throughout the 2020 Democratic primary, many of Biden’s competitors proposed a left-wing wish list on everything from Medicare for All to the Green New Deal as a means to mollify more progressive activists. Biden, by contrast, didn’t pivot and famously said “I’m with Barack” when talking about supporting Obamacare instead of single-payer healthcare.

In the end, though, most Democratic voters – namely Black voters, the party’s base – decided it wanted Biden because they thought he was the candidate most likely to defeat Donald Trump. Similarly, while many progressives were not happy about Biden’s victory, most Democrats lined up behind him, recognising the urgency of beating Trump. The 6 January hearings have shown just how much of an existential threat to the republic the former president was, and it is unlikely any of Biden’s competitors could have beaten Trump.

Biden’s slogan in the campaign and his economic plan – Build Back Better – acknowledges his view of governing, that he wants to bring America back to normal while making some tweaks on the margins without any radical changes. On the campaign trail, he told donors: “No one’s standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change.” And most people were so fed up with Trump’s erratic behavior and subverting of democratic norms that Biden’s pledge sounded like a good deal.

The problem for many Democratic activists is that they see this not as a time to return to the ordinary but as a rather extraordinary moment in history. There is no erasing Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett’s nominations to the Supreme Court, and no undoing their curtailing of abortion rights.

But Democrats made a deal that they believed Biden – whose 36 years as a senator and eight years as vice president fortified his belief in the institutions of Washington – could beat Trump and, therefore, likely won’t see much radical action.

Ultimately, Biden’s lack of action was the price Democrats paid to, in their mind, rescue democracy. But that leaves them in a difficult place today.

Yours,

Eric Garcia

Washington DC correspondent