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Dave's avatar

Democrats should take the deals on climate and the Electoral Count Act, then pivot to getting majorities in 2024. That's the stuff on the table and we are out of time.

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Allan Thoen's avatar

A lot of the bad vibes in our system come from the mismatch between the President's actual institutional power, and the public and punditry's expectations of what a President can do. A President can talk a big game, has a big bully pulpit, but except to the extent that Congress delegates actual lawmaking power to the President, that power resides in Congress, notwithstanding public expectations.

This mismatch that creates the bad vibes could be resolved two ways: increase the President's actual lawmaking power to rule independently of Congress, by allowing or encouraging Congress to delegate more power to the President. Or seek to diminish the power and prestige of the Presidency, treat the President less like a king and more like an administrator in chief, and seek to build up the policymaking infrastructure and capabilities of Congress. The kind of policymaking staff and apparatus, and the budget that goes with it, that lives in the White House could instead be in the Speaker and Majority Leader's offices.

It seems clear which one is the better solution, if one cares more about long-term institutional health than winning the short-term policy battle of the day.

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