2/19/21
For years, well-credentialed thinkers have been telling us to expect a Democratic majority, built on the rise of young, minority and urban voters. Demography was destiny, and the future was blue. But now Democrats have a real shot at a durable majority, defying even the gerrymandering and small-state inequities built into the system. And not only because of Stacey Abrams’s winning strategy in Georgia. It’s no more complicated than this: The current Democratic agenda is hugely popular, crossing racial and regional lines. If you do things that help people’s lives, and do them well, the public will stay with you. Joe Biden has been president for only a month. But if his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the jobs, infrastructure and climate initiatives to follow work out as well as they are now polling, his party could govern for many years to come. Biden is listening to whispers from the grave of Franklin Roosevelt — laying out a society-changing plan of action at a low ebb in the nation’s history. Facing the largest social and economic crisis since the Great Depression, Biden’s hoping to significantly reduce child poverty, expand health care and fortify working-class families. “We’re in a position to think big and move big,” said Biden this month. He was talking about Covid-19 relief specifically, but it’s important that he maintain that mantra and not let his master plan get nibbled to death.
Biden set a low goal of 100 million Covid vaccine shots in his first 100 days; his administration is delivering at a pace that would far exceed that. If most Americans are inoculated by August, he’ll be boosted by majority approval. Make no mistake: The public is with Biden now. The Covid-19 relief package — with its direct payments to families and aid for businesses, the unemployed and local governments — is backed by nearly 70 percent of Americans, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. In a nation that can’t agree on a simple set of facts, this is staggering. Two-thirds of Americans supported raising the federal minimum wage before the pandemic, By August, that figure had risen to 72 percent. Biden’s plan to provide tax credits in the form of payments of up to $300 per month to poor families could lift 10 million children above or closer to the poverty line. Big majorities also support rejoining the Paris climate agreement, offering a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and expanding Obamacare with a public option. One month in, Biden’s presidency gets the approval of well over 50 percent of Americans, something Trump never had in the aggregate of polls in his four years. For the moment, Biden has kept his troops united and disciplined. Tepid incremental steps are out. So long as it remains carpe diem time at the White House, the president is poised to make a lasting blue mark.
