Political paralysis, outbreak of Covid: the Biden presidency cracks on all sides

Paralyzed by the veto of a single senator to his gigantic environmental and social reforms, powerless in the face of the outbreak of Covid-19, Joe Biden saw his presidency crack on all sides on Monday.

Returning to the White House after a weekend with his family, the Democratic President, wearing a thick black mask, walked towards the Oval Office without addressing a word or a glance to the reporters who were waiting for him as he descended. helicopter.

His public agenda provides that he will speak only on Tuesday, at the beginning of the afternoon, about the wave of the Omicron variant which is sweeping the United States, with its share of cancellations of shows and sporting events, of interminable lines in front of screening centers, and schools that close at least temporarily.

Joe Biden “will not announce the containment” of the country, his spokesman Jen Psaki said Monday, but will take “measures” to encourage vaccination and improve screening.

The Democratic president, elected largely on the promise of ending a pandemic that has so far killed more than 800,000 people in the United States, seems powerless in the face of this new wave.

At the federal level, it does not have many levers. And the few restrictive measures that it has taken, in particular vaccination in large companies, come up against legal proceedings, in addition to fueling the speeches of the Republican opposition on an attack on individual freedoms.

– Joe versus Joe –

This impression of a president already paralyzed, not even a year after his inauguration, is further reinforced by his powerlessness in the face of the senator from a rural state of 1.7 million inhabitants.

Joe Manchin, senator from West Virginia, said on Sunday that he would not give his decisive voice to Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan. It is about 1.750 billion dollars of expenses intended to make America triumph in the face of climate change and competition from China.

It is an almost fatal blow for this legislative project which promised to transform in depth the economic and social cogs of the United States, while allowing the first world power to keep its climate objectives.

“The fight for + Build Back Better + is too important to give up, we will find a way forward next year,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday, without giving further details.

She hinted, however, that the 79-year-old president could use his regulatory power for lack of major legislation.

Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer was trying to boost morale by promising in a statement: “We will vote on a revised version” of the big bill, “and we will continue to vote until we have something “.

But what can be left of the most important project of the Biden presidency without the voice of Joe Manchin?

The elected representative repeated Monday that he would not vote in favor of these “very, very ambitious reforms” aimed at lowering the cost of childcare or drugs, at supporting the purchasing power of households or at encouraging the purchase of electric cars.

This centrist fears an inflationary effect and considers that aid should be more targeted.

Without him, no more Democratic majority in the Senate. And impossible to count, as Joe Biden did recently to vote for gigantic infrastructure spending, on votes from the Republican opposition, raised against what it considers to be a “socialist” turn, one of the worst political foils in the United States.

The White House expressed its frustration on Sunday in a statement of unprecedented virulence from Jen Psaki, criticizing “a sudden and inexplicable turnaround” and a “violation” of Joe Manchin’s commitments.

This further erodes the political credit of Joe Biden, whose confidence rating is already very low, one year away from the mid-term legislative elections which could turn into disaster for the Democrats.

The president, a former senator who prides himself on mastering the parliamentary game like no one else, had indeed personally invested in Joe Manchin – to the chagrin of the progressives in his party, who now feel cheated.

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