Chris Kleponis/Pool Photo via AP
From the left: Dems Go Mediocre
Democrats have “nothing of interest to say,” argues Joe Klein at Sanity Clause. “Various proposals” for the party’s reinvigoration are just “thin, reflexive nostrums” that fail to reckon with a “decisive failure to manage our public institutions” or the fact that “the lawyers who produce tides of regulations, and the unions who paralyze our governments with work rules, are part of the problem.”
We “are left with platitudes,” like an “overweight postal worker who can’t be bothered to put your mail in your slot.”
A party that once stood for “idealism and charisma and the thrill of being part of the greatest country on earth” has “outlived its usefulness because it abandoned its bargain with the people: it stopped governing effectively.”
Culture critic: A Party Lost in the Funhouse
“The deep question in American politics today,” posits Martin Gurri at City Journal, “concerns the fate of the Democratic Party.”
Dems’ “first step”: admitting “the scale of their repudiation by the voters.” “For change to be possible, party leaders must exert pressure,” but the party has “no leaders.”
So “the mythology reasserts itself. Trump must again be viewed as the second coming of Hitler” — “the dreadful sequel to a movie that itself bombed.”
Why? “Amid the standing ovations and endless smiles” from the media and other institutions Dems still control, despite having lost “every branch of the federal government,” the party “cannot see the frowns on the faces of the public.”
Democrats must “regain a foothold on reality” and abandon “glittering chambers that lead nowhere.”
Democracy watch: Joe’s Farewell Projection
Joe Biden’s farewell warning of a looming “abuse of power” was mere “projection” — “the left’s latest excuse” for its own misbehavior, roars Kimberley A. Strassel at The Wall Street Journal.
The left’s “refrain that a ‘tyrant’ was unraveling democracy provided their justification for tearing through” norms.
Even after Donald Trump’s 2021 exit, they continued their “ramming of guardrails.”
Biden’s attorney general targeted an ex-president, his boss’ rival, and raided his home. They waged lawfare, curtailed civil rights during COVID, flouted Congress and the Supreme Court.
Their “guiding principle” has been: “In the name of saving democracy, we, the righteous, get to burn it down.”
For now, Republicans aren’t taking that low road. But Dems “will have no one to blame” but themselves if the trend continues.
Eye on Albany: Hochul’s Health-Care Malpractice
In her State of the State speech, Gov. Hochul “remarkably had little to say” about Medicaid, though the “sprawling health plan covers a third of the population and consumes a quarter of state revenue,” grumbles the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond.
“Hochul’s near-silence was disconcerting — because “spiraling Medicaid spending,” “excessive enrollment” and other problems “demand the governor’s urgent attention.”
If “affordability” is to be “more than a slogan,” she’d address these issues and “stand up to the health-care industry.”
Her “lack of a health-care agenda” is “surprising because she appointed a Commission on the Future of Health Care in 2023,” which has yet “to issue its first set of recommendations.”
New Yorkers wanting “stronger leadership on health-care can only hope that her budget has surprises.”
Internet beat: Biden’s Broken Broadband Vow
“Four years ago, the Biden administration promised 25 million people in rural America reliable access to the internet,” recalls The Free Press’ Madeleine Rowley.
Yet “the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program has yet to hook up a single customer.”
Behind the delay: “bureaucratic sloth, the challenge of setting up brand-new governmental processes on the fly in all 50 states, and a commitment to expensive, high-quality fiber-optic cable over cheaper alternatives.”
Plus a DEI component, insisting on participation from “minority- and women-owned businesses.” So far, only Louisiana has even gotten a federal OK to start hiring internet providers.
Sen. Ted Cruz has hinted that Team Trump will speed things up, as “states will no longer be subject to the unlawful and onerous bureaucratic obstacles.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board