While I’m always a skeptic when it comes to the government actually doing the right thing, which in this case would be not spending $3.5 trillion on broad entitlements that aren’t needed, I’m not seeing how the two sides get together here. Pelosi is already having a hard enough time rallying the moderates by herself. Now, she has Biden and his White House actively rallying progressives to keep obstructing when they themselves have no leverage to speak of. It’s a recipe for nothing passing at all.

And that’s great if you are a Republican, but it’s still worth noting just how ineffective and impotent Joe Biden is. This is a man who has no sense of his own ability or lack thereof. He truly believes he’s above it all, able to show up at Congress, say “c’mon man” a few times, and have his agenda rubber-stamped. But he’s learning quickly, to the extent he can process what’s even happening, that he has no mandate. I couldn’t think of a better way to start the fall season.