For many progressives, Manchin became the excuse for “why we can’t have nice things.” Every failure of the Democratic Congress to pass some progressive priority was laid at his feet. Even though he voted for almost every Biden nominee and bills that enacted progressive priorities like the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
But he became the bugbear every time progressives didn’t get what they wanted. More often than not, though, Manchin’s opposition provided cover for other Democrats who were also uneasy about a policy by letting them avoid having to vote while he took the arrows. During debate on ARPA, Manchin was excoriated by progressives for publicly opposing a provision to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. But when Bernie Sanders later forced a vote on the issue, eight Democrats voted against the increase.
That contains a lot of Green New Deal, but it’s not perfect and that can be blamed on Manchin. Environmentalists complain about the Biden Admin selling leases for oil and gas exploration, but the Interior Dept didn’t have a choice. AIUI, the Inflation Reduction Act contains a requirement for a certain amount of those leases to be made and that was something Manchin insisted on to get his vote.
I’m hoping someone who’s knowledgeable of West Virginia politics can chime in, but realistically, are there any West Virginia Democrats who would stand a fighting chance against Jim Justice? Are there even any who could eke out a victory if Justice were discovered with a dead girl or live boy?
The Forward Party already disappeared. Manchin was being courted by No Labels, the other “centrist” political organization composed of bored, irrelevant, out-of-office politicians.
Obviously, I’m glad Manchin made this choice. I never shared the raging hate boner that some Democrats had for him, seeing him as the best possible option the party was every going to get in a West Virginia Senate seat (as demonstrated by Democrats not even trying to play in the now open seat). I wish him well.
I never understood it either. At the very least, it weren’t for Manchin Ketanji Brown-Jackson would likely have ended up the way Merrick Garland did. Most likely we would have spent the first two years of Biden’s term getting nothing at all done with McConnell leading the senate.
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