At the end of his year of Old Testament afflictions — the political equivalent of Job losing his camels and acquiring boils — President Joe Biden might be muttering: Job was at least spared Joe Manchin III and Kyrsten Sinema, two senators from his party. These Democrats, however, stand between him and the potentially worst of his self-inflicted wounds, the Build Back Better (BBB) bill.
It is a sow's ear made from the silk purse of his election, which was the nation's plea for temperateness. The everything-including-the-kitchen-sink process that has produced BBB has completed the collapse of Biden's credibility, and his party's. The process has resembled Winston Churchill's description of an intragovernmental negotiation: Britain's Admiralty favored building six battleships and the economists favored four, so they compromised on eight.
BBB treats all Democratic constituencies like baby birds with their beaks wide open. Including journalists: There is a $1.7 billion payroll tax credit of up to $25,000 for each local journalist an organization employs in the first year and $15,000 for the next four — with the usual make-believe that this dependency of media on government will then end. The media will always proclaim their independence, but progressives' politics is always about multiplying dependent constituencies.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.