Can Joe Biden 'Triangulate' Like Bill Clinton Did in 1994?
It’s inaccurate to say Joe Biden was a moderate or a centrist politician. So, can he triangulate again after the 2022 mid-term elections the way Bill Clinton triangulated after the 1994 elections? I might have to triangulate a bit on that answer. The worst blow to the Biden presidency came before he was sworn in, when in January 2021, two Democrats won Senate runoff elections in Georgia to deliver a functional majority to the party. Before that, Biden’s instincts would have been to cut deals with his old buddy Sen. If Republicans had a slim Senate majority, the bipartisan infrastructure plan would have likely still passed. Biden could have also used McConnell as the perfect foil for not pushing extreme legislation on election overhauls or massive spending bills on climate and expanding the welfare state.
Because Democrats have a House and Senate majority, the Biden White House faces pressure from progressives in his party about the need to do more, and top White House staffers such as Ron Klain and Susan Rice seem to respond to the fringe elements. Despite FDR and LBJ winning landslides with big majorities in Congress, Biden seemed to believe this. It’s still early, but it’s looking very bad for Democrats going into the 2022 election. Triangulation is a political metaphor drawn from sailing, when the sailor is tacking with the wind, deviating from a course to angle back toward it. Clinton, with the guidance from political strategist Dick Morris, declared “the era of big government is over,” and managed to look Republican-lite while casting Newt Gingrich as a scary Republican. Also, in the 1990s, moderation was better politics with a lot more swing voters.
Another option for Joe Biden could lie in Clinton’s two successors. Trump, in his losing effort in 2020, also didn’t make an effort to appeal beyond his base. Trump could point to a pre-COVID economy, that included a strong job market, energy independence, tax reform, and a kept promise to replace trade deals, that appealed enough to non-traditional Republican voters. Clinton had a similarly strong record to point to, that voters liked despite Clinton’s icky personal flaws. Any president today might have less to gain from triangulation today. Fred Lucas is the chief national affairs correspondent for The Daily Signal and a frequent writer for Fox News Digital.
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