[Politics] Biden returns Washington to a political nightmare

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President Joe Biden received an unpleasant wake-up call for his still recent presidency on Wednesday, arriving in Washington from a visit to Europe and suddenly facing a transformed political landscape.
Republican Glenn Youngkin's projected victory over former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, which Biden won by 10 points, and an all-too-close race in New Jersey (where Democrat Phil Murphy ultimately won re-election by a narrow margin according to CNN's projection) ) was discouraging news for the Democratic president as he flew over the Atlantic.

Returning to the White House in the dark, Biden declined to answer questions about the election contest, which he had incorrectly predicted Democrats would win eight hours earlier. The results were released half an hour before Biden landed at Joint Base Andrews. Aboard Air Force One, people familiar with the matter said the mood was somber as a weary crew returned to what has become a maelstrom of recrimination and doubt.

Questions remain about how the changing dynamics will play out in the coming days, weeks and months.

Biden has been locked in a weeks-long cycle of pressure for months on his legislative agenda, as his party has failed to pass his broad national agenda, comprised of a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. $1.75 trillion social safety net expansion. These priorities remain unfulfilled, with a possible government shutdown and a default on the national debt looming in early December.

All this represents a potential turning point in Biden's presidency before he has completed a year in office. Already the White House is throbbing with a new sense of urgency to pass the agenda and provide direction to a panicked party, with one official telling CNN that Biden may speak directly to the American people on Wednesday.
"I think it's wrong to overreact here," a senior administration official told CNN, but added, "Clearly voters are frustrated by the pace of the action and we have to pick up that pace."

After months of infighting over Biden's multibillion-dollar legislative agenda, exposing divisions in the Democratic Party, it wasn't long before the finger pointing and panic among Biden allies began. A source close to the White House argued that the results showed voters are frustrated with the lack of action in Washington.

"Voters have made it clear that they are not happy with inaction and pedantry," the source said. "And Democrats broadly agree there is more momentum to move forward, more quickly, with bills that will change the economic landscape for middle-class families and ensure the economy delivers for the working people in their lives." daily, not just for those at the top."
"If voters are frustrated by inaction, the obvious response is to be more decisive and pass bills based on a middle-class agenda that received a record 81 million votes last year," the source added. "And there's a strong consensus on that across the party. Doing less is clearly the opposite of what people want."
 

On Wednesday morning, a source close to House progressives countered criticism from moderate Democrats that McAuliffe lost because they held back Biden's agenda.

"That doesn't even come close to passing the test. Voters didn't base their choice between McAuliffe and Youngkin on infrastructure negotiations in Washington. A state hasn't pivoted more than 10 points in a single year because of a bill." in Congress," the source said.

Still, during the final weeks of the campaign, McAuliffe and his allies repeatedly warned that Biden's inability to pass a far-reaching expansion of the social safety net was hampering his race.

Some of Biden's advisers have dismissed the idea that the impasse in the president's domestic agenda is to blame, pointing instead to the lingering pandemic and its economic effects. Some Democrats close to Biden have also privately lamented McAuliffe's blunders, like the comment about education that he came to define the final weeks of the race.

"Virginia is just the first step," says GOP leader
The Virginia gubernatorial race, in particular, was seen as a referendum on the first year of Biden's presidency, although the president said he did not see it that way, and Tuesday's defeat could lead to questioning the strategy of the Democrats on Biden's economic agenda. More moderate Democrats could join Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia in raising concerns about Biden's huge economic and climate spending bill, further dragging out the process and complicating the way forward.

Biden, who campaigned for McAuliffe in Virginia, had on Tuesday expressed his confidence that McAuliffe would win.

"We're going to win. I think we're going to win Virginia," Biden said during a news conference in Glasgow, though he also acknowledged it would be a very close contest.

However, the president said the results would not be a reflection of his agenda.

"I don't think, and I haven't seen any evidence, that whether I do well or poorly, whether my agenda passes or not, is going to have any real impact on whether I win or lose," Biden said during the Press conference. "Even if we had passed my agenda, I would not claim that we have won because Biden's agenda passed."

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2021/11/03/biden-pesadilla-politica-trax/