AMAC Exclusive – by Daniel Roman

We now have the roadmap for the Democratic midterm strategy in 2022. In a press conference last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki eagerly lashed out at a male reporter for, well, being male. “I know you’ve never faced those choices,” she said regarding Texas’s new abortion law, “nor have you ever been pregnant, but for women out there who have faced those choices, this is an incredibly difficult thing. The President believes that right [to abortion] should be respected.”
The speed with which Psaki relished the chance to change the topic to abortion illustrates the speed with which Democrats, still nominally in control of the House and Senate, seem eager to return to the comfort of opposition, where everything is someone else’s fault. The issue of abortion, brought to the fore by Texas’ recent heartbeat bill, which the Supreme Court declined to block on procedural grounds from going into effect, gave Democrats exactly the opportunity they were hoping for. Sitting back and criticizing Texas Republicans is a much easier task than successfully running the country.
Anyone watching the administration’s response to either Afghanistan or the Delta variant has seen this story before. When it came to Afghanistan, the decision to withdraw was the fault of Donald Trump for negotiating a deal with the Taliban, the Afghan army for “not fighting,” and Americans for not wanting to be rescued or failing to help themselves. The administration, by its own claims, was powerless to change course regarding the withdrawal, powerless to design or alter the withdrawal plans in response to new information, and under no obligation to do anything beyond the absolute minimum.
As for the surge in the Delta Variant, the White House has chosen to blame everything from inflation to economic slowdowns on the return of COVID-19, and the return of COVID-19 on Republican governors for failing to implement polices that the administration itself has seemed reluctant to commit to. It was Joe Biden’s own CDC that told vaccinated Americans they no longer needed to wear masks last spring. It was Joe Biden’s administration that forced a two-week pause on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine in response to perhaps one case per million in side effects without consulting with state or local governments, and then restarted it without the revelation of any further information. The result was to break the momentum of the national vaccination effort at its height and spread doubt. Was it a mistake to stop it in the first place based on the risks that were known? That was what was implied by allowing it to resume.
It is easier for the White House to blame random Republican politicians for not pushing vaccination hard enough than it is to take responsibility for defeating the virus, just as it is easier to blame Ron DeSantis for pushing to allow perhaps 5-7% of children to opt out of mask mandates than it is to put forward a plan that might actually work. Under Biden and the Democrats, the blame game is now the entire game.
In short, the administration and the Democratic Party have concluded they cannot run on what they have done, either because it is unpopular, or because they have actually done very little. So, they have decided instead to try and repeat their 2018 and 2020 campaigns of running against Donald Trump by blaming Republicans for everything bad that is happening.
Democrats tried this before in 2010 and 2014 and were met with historic losses. There is little reason to think it will work better this time. That is not to say the strategy is of no value to them. It is possible that talking about the new Texas abortion law is advantageous for Gavin Newsom in California and Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, as it allows them to distract from their own records. But in both cases, it is only a better strategy because they cannot run and win on actual positive achievements.
Joe Biden’s numbers have long since turned negative in the Real Clear Politics average, where he is at 46% approve to 49% disapprove. The most recent ABC/Washington Post and NPR/PBS/Marist polls have him in even worse shape at 44/51 and 43/51 respectively. The saving grace for Democrats is that they are tied or continue to lead generic ballot polls, indicating that the Republican Party is also unpopular with voters. The greatest danger Democrats face, then, is less that their voters will switch, and more that they will not bother to vote for a party they see as incompetent and useless. Hence Democrats need to resort to fear based politics to “scare” their base voters into turning out.
That explains the effort to turn Ron DeSantis into a national boogeyman. It also explains why they have been even quicker to embrace the Texas abortion law as a godsend than pro-lifers, many of whom have mixed feelings about aspects of its design and enforcement. For Democrats, it gives them a chance to mobilize and scare their own voters. Pro-lifers likely have no desire to sue random poor women in Texas. But Democrats would like nothing better, and if pro-life activists won’t use the law, there can be almost no doubt that Democrats will find someone who will in order to create martyrs for campaigning.
Expect more of this. In the early Spring when the controversy over Critical Race Theory was building, Democrats tried to avoid “culture war” issues, instead trying to focus on how much money they were spending. Now that the money has dried up, they are taking a second look at culture war and deciding they quite like it after all. It would be wise to expect more, not less of it going forward. It is likely to be Democrats, not Republicans, who will make 2022 into a culture war.
Democrats know that independent voters are disenchanted. They know that their base voters are frustrated. They also are likely aware, even if their cheerleaders in the media are not, of the poor record of this sort of midterm strategy in 2010 and 2014. But for them, it is better than nothing, and resorting to it is a concession that the alternative is pretty much nothing.
Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
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Mature American Citizens?
Traitorous Communist rats is more like it. Let’s go Brandon!
I am puzzled that this author does not seem to know that the Texas law specifically states that the providers of abortions can be sued and NOT the women themselves. Therefore NO poor women will be sued.
For an association of “mature” citizens you all don’t seem to be conducting yourselves very maturely… I feel sorry for your children and grandchildren, who you are all undoubtedly all a huge embarrassment to
The left may be closer to getting what they don’t want than they know
The problem with what commentators have to say is controlled by the owners of the media outlets. Most media outlets are owned by people who highly wish for the downfall of the USA so the One World Order can be formed to run the world. This will happen eventually but only for a short time.
It’s sad that conservative politicians can’t unify to do something about the tyranny of the current administration. The people are going to have yo rectify the situation in the 2022 midterms. That is, of course, is conservatives will unite even then.
“Under Biden and the Democrats, the blame game is now the entire game.”
IMO, this is not new; it’s how they’ve operated for years but this admin offers NOTHING but excuses.
The Democrats (communist) are doing everything they can to change the focus and distract peoples attention from the 2020 election audits being conducted in Arizona. They know if the truth comes out they are done. Expect them to throw everything they have at true Patriots and create as much ciaos and confusion as possible.
I so many comments “wait until 2022 and 2024 and we’ll be back”. Good luck with l that, guys. Votes don’t count the vote counters count. Fraud will continue just like 2020. In Wisconsin our Republican Assembly and Senate passed laws to ensure honest elections and our demorat VETOED all of them.
Did your House assembly and Senate override the Veto???
Actually there is. I expect Roe v Wade to be overruled 6-3 next July – 4 months before the election – assuming there are no deaths among the 6 (a very big assumption). I expect it to really happen this time. The mechanism of midterm losses for the President’s party is that their voters don’t show up. but the other side does. But a fundamantal issue like this which has nothing to do with the President’s performance can drive Democrat voters to the polls, regardless of how unpopular the President is.
Does the administration support the governor of Virginia who believes not only in late term abortions, but also in post pregnancy murder of a newborn?
The Democratic party has been an engine of grievance politics since the 60’s. It’s supporters-ignorant blacks, leftist Jews, feminists and homosexuals are their main bases of support and their values are out of touch with the rest of the nation outside the cultural sewer holes of the media, Hollywood and the academy. They are not a party that we can trust period.
Oh for crying out loud!!! Democrats have been blaming the GOP since the 80s, when they related their new pogrom of making everything a political issue, instead of whether a policy would be beneficial or harmful.
Where in the hell have you all been?? Living under a rock?
Don’t be foolish. Those “surveys” are so f’n tilted.
It is ALL about hating President Trump and everything he stands for. Liberal Dems hate the truth, do not like to be criticized, will do anything to keep the middle class hard working person down. It is a power game for them, they are BULLIES in the rough!
….two points: Saki says Biden says, it is a fundamental, “Constitutional” Right to allow a woman to have an abortion, YET he doesn’t apply this exact same Constitutional principal for citizens to keep and bear arms .
Hopefully, Conservatives will be the majority in Congress, after the next elections But the damage that has already been done by the “Frat -Party” mentality, going on in D.C. will take years to Rectify, which is their plan anyway.
It’s not about what they like, it is about what they hate.
When the heck will the commie Dems stop blaming everybody and everything on Trump and the pussy Republicans. And when will the Reps get some guts and start fighting. I think Trump should start another Party. These other two parties are making me sick. Abortion: They should allow it for incest and rape.
We do not have a government anymore just a bunch of people in Washington D,C, living off the hard working American tax payer.
You can’t argue with that
100 percent right on. You hit the neil on the head. The creeps in DC……….
Because of the busybodies who seek to force childbirth upon unwilling women, the Democrats will make a roaring comeback. God forbid the fundies accept the fact that women have a God-given right to personal autonomy and always have.
You can disagree with me all you want to, but it will not alter the facts. The GOP will not win by losing the women’s votes. MYOB if you want to have a nation: you don’t get to decide for women on the most significant process of their lives.
Speaking as a conservative here: The Republican dog has barked at and chased the abortion mail truck for decades. The Texas ruling came along and the dog has finally caught the mail truck. Now that awkward moment arrives when the dog realizes the mail truck may run him over.
Clever analogy! Thanks for the chuckle and the support!
The Texas law is a sideshow that will be eventually invalidated on other grounds. The real action is the Mississippi Case.
Not sure if you are a man or woman writing this, but one way to end all the bickering of abortion versus no abortion is to be proactive in using birth control properly and regularly, and that should be both partner’s responsibility!
Don’t you have a clue who Demeter is?
And don’t you know there is no 100% guaranty aside from sterilization?
Sure there is ~ ABSTINENCE! If you don’t want kids, keep your legs closed and zippers up.
Oh yes! Abstinence is the PERFECT defense against RAPE!
Are you a trannie? You can’t be a woman, that’s for sure!
But that implies morality exists.
In the democrat Communist world, it does not. Only the ‘State’ exists.
You can’t have rights without responsibility. Over 40% of abortions are repeats. It’s population control for the elites to limit the “human weeds” a la Margaret Sanger.
None of your business, dude, why, who, or how much. UNLESS you are the impregnator, in which case, you are the irresponsible one.
So women should have a choice? Why don’t they have a choice when it comes to the schools their children go to should they decide to not abort. Does a woman’s choice stop in the abortion room?
What is your problem? School choice is so 1960 and has been settled nationwide. You are 60 years behind the times.
You can’t be serious. Democrats fight school choice left and right.
They don’t win, though.
Women have CONTROL of their own lives.
Birth is a consiquence– choice was 9 months prior.
Oh please. Roe v. Wade was about population control, not women’s rights. Its co-counsel admitted it to Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton has nothing to do with this issue. The decision was 20+ years before his Presidency.
I do love the fact that you can let unborn children die for the sake of political expediency. That dog has been chasing the mail truck for the sake of keeping Republicans in power…busybodies were always part of the coalition. You may be right, Republicans may die on that hill – the hill whereupon they caught the mail truck. It was a good fight and worthy of losing. In fact, it may be the only time the Republican party has demonstrated moral courage lo these last 20 years.