Brick Red

While Democrats and Republicans have cynically joined forces for a meager “build back better,” the Left mostly fantasizes about tearing it all down.

It should have been the Bernie Sanders Infrastructure Bill.

I don’t just mean that he would have created a more scrupulous and comprehensive program than the one we're currently watching unfold, I also mean that he would have truly loved the assignment. I mean our boy would have killed it. What's more, he would have understood the stakes as a legacy of social democracy. You can't buy that kind of PR. The current administration doesn’t even seem interested in taking credit for the $1.12 trillion they secured for clean water projects, expanded high speed internet, and much-needed road and bridge building and repair. It’s not even the “President Joseph Biden Infrastructure Bill,” it’s the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”—a concession a friend of mine would call “very little dick-ed of him.”

Contrast that to Donald Trump’s name on 476 million stimulus checks sent out during the pandemic, a move many left-of-center publications and media figures were quick to point out was “unprecedented.” The indignant, "my word" horror at such a breach in protocols of modesty betrayed once again their rarified audience. At least I hope, for their sake, they weren’t trying to reach any sizable chunk of red-blooded-American stimulus check recipients by vilifying the guy sending them money on the grounds that he’s “showboating.” This country is a showboat, and we love a showman.

Moreover, the “Donald J. Trump” on the checks was in typeface, not his seismographic signature, as was originally rumored. It wasn’t even on the endorsement line, but the memo line, and under the words “ECONOMIC IMPACT PAYMENT.” Frankly, I found the final result quite demure, considering the President in question. Even among Trump's most adamant detractors, I never met anyone too disgusted to cash the check. The liberal media figures who fixated on his tacky execution came off like cosseted brats who couldn't pass a Turing Test. (Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm betting "Cowboy Bernie" received much of the same criticism for his "unprecedented" politics.)

Now here are the Democrats, actually in the process of “Build Back Better”—a slogan that sounds like a dementia-stutter (but you get what he’s trying to say), and appears to have been replaced by the more coherent (but less memorable) “Building a Better America.” But however senile or boring the messaging, they’re fulfilling a promise to finally do something to help not just individual Americans through cash relief payments, but the country as a whole; to tackle climate change, inflation, unemployment, and the general state of infrastructural disrepair we’ve been sliding further and further into.

But where is the fanfare? They’ve purportedly put up a few signs where the money is being used, but where? I haven’t noticed any. I suspect the signs are around, and I’ve probably been near one, but signs are easy to overlook, and they only show the local, rather the national, scale of the project. A tree is beautiful, but a forest is sublime.

Biden’s Senior Advisor Mitch Landrieu, who is supervising implementation, certainly seems to think the administration should be bragging a bit:

He’s [Biden’s] entitled to remind people that his predecessor, and the guy before that, and the guy before that, and the guy before that, you know, basically said they were going to do it. We actually got it done. So I think that he deserves a lot of latitude in reminding people how far we’ve come.

So why the lack of public self-promotion? Perhaps it’s not peace-making with Republicans or genteel modesty, but caution that stays the Biden administration from an ostentatious, dare I say “big dick-ed,” victory lap. Maybe they don’t have enough confidence in the project’s success to claim responsibility for something they’re not sure they can do, or do well enough to inspire “buy-in” from their constituents. It’s also a very long-term project, and you don’t usually get credit for things that happen after you’re out of office, especially when your name’s not on it. Plus, there are still problems to be solved. Progressives like Robert Reich insist in The Guardian that “There is no labor shortage,” only a “a shortage of jobs paying sufficient wages to attract workers to fill job openings.” This is hardly an insurmountable obstacle, of course: start a jobs program! (You’re welcome.)

Still, it feels like an opportunity is being missed. If they want credit, they should take it now. They should be sending out mailers. They should have a nationally televised parade. With fireworks. Joe Biden should come out to “Return of the Mack,” or “Jumping Jack Flash.” Something with “Mack” or “Jack” in it; consistent branding is important. Casually mention that bust of Cesar Chavez he keeps in the White House, and bring up the endless pursuit of student debt relief, even if it really would only benefit non-profit and governmental employees. After all, professional “knowledge workers” might be the only millennial voters the Democratic Party could hope to recoup at this point anyway.