(This column was published earlier today by The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy)
by Chris Braunlich
“You dance with the one who brung ya” goes one of the oldest sayings in politics.
It means that when elected officials get into public office, they vote with those who helped put them there.
The deadly Hamas attack on Israel, an event slaughtering 1,400 Israelis that Hamas political bureau member Ghazi Hamad called “our message to the world,” has exposed divisions up and down the Biden liberal-left coalition – and sent a warning signal about those who power that coalition.
Polling data demonstrate the split among Democrats, fueled largely by the young and the left. It has already caused President Biden to shift his tone, and a recent Reuters report noted that “Biden, 80, has evolved in the face of a challenging 2024 reelection bid, (and) threats by some would-be supporters to withhold their votes over his lack of backing for Palestinians .…”
Four hundred congressional staffers have signed a letter to their bosses opposing the Administration’s current approach. Two-hundred each among the former volunteers of presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have done the same. Groups supporting Biden are disbanding. Continue reading