Former advisor to President Barack Obama Valerie Jarrett sees more compromise with Congress under 78-year-old President Joe Biden than the days when she advised Obama from Jan. 20, 2009 to Jan. 20, 2017. Jarrett thought Barack had a difficult time getting any legislation through a bitterly divided Congress with Democrats controlliing both house of Congress between 2009-2014. Once Obama lost the House in 2014, Jarrett thinks it was tough sledding for the Obama administration in Congress. Jarrett didn’t mention what happened Dec. 24, 2009 when the U.S. Senate passed the Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare, eventually signed into law March 23, 2010 on a simple majority vote, when former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used the “nuclear option,” passing the legislation with a simple majority. Reid started the bad blood not compromising between Democrats and Republicans.
Jarrett thinks former Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be in a more conciliatory mood, since he just lost his job to newly minted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Jarrett never fully understood the outrage Republicans felt when Reid went nuclear, railroading Obamacare without one Republican vote. Whether or not Obama ever regretted the decision is anyone’s guess. But for practical purposes March 23, 2010 ended Obama’s ability to pass bipartisan legislation, eventually losing the House and Senate Nov. 2, 2014. Republicans were so antagonized by Obama railroading Obamacare in 2010 they used every tactic available to block any White House sponsored legislation. Jarrett can’t possibly think that if Democrats go ahead with 74-year-old President Donald Trump’s second impeachment, it’s going to promote Biden’s call for unity and bipartisanship.
Republicans took Obamacare resistance to the extremes, opposing it just because it was imposed on them in 2010. Republicans never proposed an alternative to Obamacares, hurting Trump’s prospects of winning a second term. While Trump’s management of Covid-19 and the economy dominated the campaign, the potential loss of Obamacare didn’t help his fortunes with the vast numbers of voters. Trump’s 11th hour decision to ram 48-year-old Associate Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett through the Senate also raised fears of losing Obamacare and Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling legalizing abortion. “I do think our nation is in a very different point today that it was 12 years ago,” Jarrett said. Jarrett thinks new members of Congress will pressure their older colleague sto take a more progressive stance on different types of legislation on health care, the environment and climate change.
Jarrett was part of Obama’s brain-trust that decided to go for broke with Obamacare, pushed by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who worked on national health care with her husband in 1994, former President Bill Clinton. Hillary couldn’t get it done then, encouraging Obama to do anything possible to get some version of national health care. Whatever the problems with Obamacare, it was certainly better than nothing, no matter what its limitations. Biden wants to fix Obamacare and make certain it here to stay. Biden’s progressive wing preferred a Medicare-for-All plan pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Biden favors fixing Obamacare over the most costly alternative of Medicare-for-All to U.S. citizens. Jarrett thinks that with a Democrat House and Senate, Joe can get much of his agenda done until the 2022 Midterm elections.
Biden’s stated desire to promote unity and bipartisanship should put the brakes on another impeachment trial against Trump. Trump’s 75 million voters in the 2020 election wouldn’t be happy with another wasteful impeachment trial, especially if it ends badly for Democrats. “We certainly did a lot back then,” Jarrett said. “Vice President Biden was very engaged on this front, but [Republicans] made a political decision to not work with us. I hope that has changed in this current climate,” giving more reason for Biden to talk with 80-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi currently pushing for a second impeachment trial. Jarret acknowledged that with Congress fairly evenly divided, Joe will need the backing of some Republicans to push his agenda across, unless it’s always with the nuclear option. Jarrett saw what happened to Barack with Obamacare, she doesn’t want the same thing to happen with Biden.
Launching a new impeachment trial with Trump out of office does nothing to advance Biden’s call for unity and bipartisanship. Pelosi argues that it’s important for unity to hold the trial, something some Republicans, like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut.) back. “Today marks the start of a new chapter in our history,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine. “In his inaugural address, I was pleased to hear President Biden emphasize that unity is the path forward for our country.” Collins knows that if Democrats move ahead with a second impeachment trial, it’s only going to promote more rancor between the parties. “I commend President Biden for his call for national unity, and his assurance to those who did not support him that he will nevertheless be president for all Americans,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). If Democrats really want to start on the right foot, they’ll reject Pelosi’s call for a new impeachment trial.
