the degree to which there is a media ecosystem that supports what they are peddling.
the degree to which the mainstream media can both sides any issue, which will somehow find a way to criticize the Democratic party for whatever road block to effective government this stupidity produces.
The result is 40% of the country are 100% on board, and 20 of the country are swayed by the idea that they’re both as bad as each other, and as the Dem was given a shot and didn’t make things that much better then you may as well try other side this time.
The Republican party has zero interest in participating in the process of government.
These are the similar frustrations faced by Obama iirc. Although there were periods during his time in office where he did have the votes in the Senate, I think?
The record books show he was voted in with control of the House and a super majority in the Senate. In reality though he had a legislative super majority in the Senate for only about 2 months of the 2 year term. It took them until July to seat Al Franken in MN because of court cases and recounts, and then Ted Kennedy died just a few weeks later. They managed to replace him with an interim Dem, but himself lasted only a month or so before the special election elected a Republican replacement.
Were those the issues that delayed Obamacare? I seem to remember that Obama was forced into making a number of concessions and even then only managed to get it through when he had the Democrat numbers again?
There were a multitude of reasons that made passing Obamacare seem so drawn out, but ultimately they got it through the senate at the end of the year on a race against the clock as they were due to lose their filibuster proof majority in January.
It still has to pass the house, which wasn’t a problem in itself, but they had to find a way to reconcile their version with the senate’s version that didn’t require it going back to the Senate (normal process would have required it to) with the super majority lost. Lots of Republicans viewed that as chicanery, but by that point they were well into their bad faith arguments about the bill and the process so the Dems, in a rare act of go fuck yourselfism told them to go and fuck themselves and used unusual methods to get it through the house in a way that made it not have to go back to the senate.
in terms of its official passage through the senate ultimately
ultimately its passage through the senate occurred in one of the few weeks in which they had a filibuster proof majority, just a week or two before Kennedy’s permanent replacement was to be seated.
I’d rather not hear it though from that group who only viewed 2000 as a contest they needed to win for their side rather than a means of finding out the actual will of the people. It’s difficult to not listen and hear them say “Trump isnt worth cheating over, but my guy was.”
