tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7163441833245663827.post3779056970617565369..comments2024-03-22T10:49:51.766-05:00Comments on Horizons: Was it Rep. Cori Bush's Sit-In That Convinced Biden to Issue a Moratorium on Evictions?Nancy LeTourneauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12614317154146836694noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7163441833245663827.post-40398472695865700852021-08-07T13:06:11.140-05:002021-08-07T13:06:11.140-05:00I have this idea that every big social change requ...I have this idea that every big social change requires two kinds of people, saint and strategist, Gandhi and Nehru, MLK and LBJ, a moralist like Cori Bush to clarify the issue and a pro like Nancy Pelosi (for me she can represent the moral issue well when called on, but not everybody hears her) to push it through the institutional obstacles. There's no need to debate which deserves the credit; both were needed.Yastreblyanskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335868257729063363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7163441833245663827.post-56780290576197752412021-08-06T17:24:36.430-05:002021-08-06T17:24:36.430-05:00It's pretty clear to me that Biden was going t...It's pretty clear to me that Biden was going to work to extend the moratorium. We know this because he worked to extend them last time; if he was game to do it once, he was probably game to do it again. Now it's always possible that he got whanged on the head by a frying pan, suffered a total personality change like on "The Flintstones", and had to be re-convinced of the value of moratoriums by Cori Bush ... but as someone who holds to past behavior being a pretty good gauge of current or future behavior, I side squarely with, Biden was going to do what he'd previously done again.<br /><br />Now, let's talk about Cori Bush. Her past behavior tells us a lot about her too. As with the rest of the Squad, her position at all times is, what the "establishment" is doing must be criticized. For example, Bush was one of the few people who voted against that Capitol Police bill, because it's not in her to acknowledge that the Establishment has a point even on something so obvious as the need to protect the Capitol. So I can't really credit Cori Bush for this protest; this was not a deeply principled move, it was a stunt to draw the spotlight to herself. Same as always.<br /><br />Honestly, being an insurgent is the laziest game in politics: gripe constantly that the establishment isn't doing enough, and when they do something, claim that it was your criticism that forced them to do it. Actual work you did: none. (That even holds from a physics definition, in that an insurgent's work is orthogonal to actual motion. F dot s equals zero.)<br /><br />Let us note, as well, that every single member of Congress had at least a little obligation to be working on moratorium legislation from the moment that the Supreme Court announced that they wouldn't do any more extensions without Congressional approval. Cori Bush dropped the ball on that. So did everyone else in Congress, in both chambers and both parties; but Cori is just as culpable as anyone. Probably moreso, in that, unlike someone like Lauren Underwood, Cori Bush can't really claim that she's already up to her neck in other legislation.King Beauregardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04043228078537079759noreply@blogger.com