President Joe Biden's soon-to-be-signed $1 trillion infrastructure legislation is a direly needed political win and a vindication of his entire creed of politics. But on its own, it is unlikely to rescue a wobbling presidency as midterm elections loom. If ever a president needed a break, it was Biden, after brutal months battered by the pandemic, a consequent economic storm and his own mismanaged withdrawal from Afghanistan. In recent months, Biden has often looked outpaced by multiple challenges, raising questions about his authority and capacity to restore competent, calm leadership that voters craved when they chose him in 2020. Even more moderate members of his own party have wondered whether the president's decision to adopt a transformative agenda despite minuscule majorities in Congress backfired. And deeper problems afflicting his presidency, doubts over whether Democrats' message is a fit with the country's mood and historic factors weighing against first-term presidents in midterm elections mean one big legislative win may not launch a comeback. But if the 2022 campaign effectively started after last week's gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, which further tarnished the Democratic brand, it could hardly have begun better for Biden. On Friday morning, a surge of optimism greeted new official data showing the economy churned out 531,000 jobs in October after several shockingly poor months. News that Pfizer is seeking regulatory approval for a highly effective pill to treat COVID-19, new authorization for vaccines for kids ages 5-11 and figures showing that 70% of US adults are now fully vaccinated offered the promise of escape from the pandemic after many false dawns. Then, on Friday evening, Biden got his biggest win on Capitol Hill yet, with House passage of the infrastructure measure that had been held up by progressives seeking guarantees on a large social spending bill that Biden hopes to pass next. A historic federal effort will soon flow to repair the country's potholed roads, aging airports, crumbling bridges and antiquated railroads, with more funds targeting rural broadband and earmarked to catalyze a fast evolution of electric vehicles. Several Democrats, including Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, argued that had the bill — which passed the Senate in August — become law earlier, Democrat Terry McAuliffe might have been elected governor of the commonwealth instead of Republican Glenn Youngkin last week. But Warner also highlighted Friday night's victory in a bid to turn the page for Democrats, who must now show they can sell the benefits of the bill more effectively than they have so far in marketing Biden's agenda. "What a difference a week makes," Warner told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" on Sunday. Speaking on the same show, Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan admitted that the bill's passage was a big win but argued that the tortuous political process that was required to pass it would limit its political potency. "It should have been an overwhelming win back in August, and I think (Biden) should not have let it get sidetracked by the progressives in the House," Hogan told Bash. Still, presidencies unfold in several parallel realities. If the bill is a success, no one, in 30 years, will remember the excruciating political drama surrounding its passage and it will be a significant legacy achievement for Biden. The measure also represents significant political vindication for the president. He anchored his campaign in 2020 on a case that he could use government to tilt the economy toward working Americans. He says the infrastructure plan will create the kind of secure, blue-collar jobs the US has been shedding for years. Over the last decade, the idea of an infrastructure reform bill had become a Washington punchline. But Biden achieved something that former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both failed to do despite their own hopes of splashy infrastructure bills. Almost alone in Washington, Biden also believed he could draw Republican support for an infrastructure plan that would show that the polarized and traumatized Washington system could still function as it was supposed to. In the event, he got 19 GOP senators and 13 House Republicans to vote in favor — a relatively small group but still rare bipartisanship in modern Washington. "All along, you told me I can't do any of it anyway," Biden told reporters on Saturday. "From the very beginning ... You didn't believe we could do any of it. And I don't blame you. Because you look at the facts, you wonder, 'How is this going to get done?'" The president had a point in his rare White House victory lap. And after weeks failing to quell showdowns raging within his own Democratic Party, his reputation as a consummate congressional dealmaker may be partially restored. The infrastructure bill passed under a compromise between House progressives and moderates under which the latter agreed to vote on the bigger plan — worth roughly $2 trillion — when assessments come back from the Congressional Budget Office on its impact on the deficit. But a perilous path still looms in the 50-50 Senate with moderates, including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, still not definitely on board despite Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's plan to pass it by Thanksgiving to give the President another big victory. Driving the bill into law could be crucial to getting progressive base voters out next November. But like the infrastructure plan, there is no guarantee that Americans will begin to experience widespread results by then. Still, White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond said on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday he was "almost certain" some shovel ready infrastructure projects could begin unfolding by the spring. But given the size of the bill, and the complicated planning and design process involved in major infrastructure overhauls, it could months or even years before much of the money shows tangible benefits. Most Washington Republicans, hoping to deny Biden the benefits of a political win, are billing the newly passed legislation as an example of Democratic overspending they plan to put at the center of their midterm campaign — despite showing little concern for fiscal discipline when Trump was in office. The ex-President, meanwhile, blasted Republicans who voted for the plan in a statement and slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for not stopping it — perhaps smarting from his own widely mocked failure to pass an infrastructure bill. — CNN
