Packing the Supreme Court: Democrats’ Long-Term Plan

Many political observers were mystified by President Biden’s incendiary remarks in Atlanta on voting rights. The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, admitted that Biden “went a little too far.” David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser when Biden was Obama’s vice president, said comparing opponents to segregationists wasn’t “useful” and the issues involved “shouldn’t be obscured by hyperbolic rhetoric.” Even MSNBC’s Al Sharpton called Biden’s blowup a “You’re going to hell” speech rather than one designed to build support.

Biden — or his senior staff — must have known before the speech that the “voting rights” bill was already dead because several Democratic senators were leery of ending or weakening the Senate filibuster. They should have known or guessed that Biden’s angry speech wouldn’t win over the independents (only 25 percent of whom approved of Biden’s job performance in the latest Quinnipiac poll) who are needed to preserve the Democrats’ tissue-thin majority this fall.

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John Fund

John Fund is National Review’s national-affairs reporter.

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Many political observers were mystified by President Biden’s incendiary remarks in Atlanta on voting rights. The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, admitted that Biden “went a little too far.” David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser when Biden was Obama’s vice president, said comparing opponents to segregationists wasn’t “useful” and the issues involved “shouldn’t be obscured by hyperbolic rhetoric.” Even MSNBC’s Al Sharpton called Biden’s blowup a “You’re going to hell” speech rather than one designed to build support.

Biden — or his senior staff — must have known before the speech that the “voting rights” bill was already dead because several Democratic senators were leery of ending or weakening the Senate filibuster. They should have known or guessed that Biden’s angry speech wouldn’t win over the independents (only 25 percent of whom approved of Biden’s job performance in the latest Quinnipiac poll) who are needed to preserve the Democrats’ tissue-thin majority this fall.