Whatever Democrats Now Pass Could Be Seen as Defeat

Playbook: “Here’s the cold reality: It now appears all but impossible for Democrats to enact a reconciliation package that’s anywhere near as far-reaching as what polls suggest a large majority of Democratic voters want. And that effectively means that for a lot of Dems, it will be hard to see whatever ends up coming out of this process as a success — with potentially dire implications for the party in 2022.”

From Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, about the intraparty fighting on health care reform ahead of the 2010 elections: “By preemptively spinning what could be a monumental, if imperfect, victory into a bitter defeat, the criticism contributed to a potential long-term demoralization of Democratic voters — otherwise known as the ‘What’s the point of voting if nothing ever changes?’ syndrome — making it even harder for us to win elections and move progressive legislation forward in the future.”