CNN Newsroom hosts Victor Blackwell and Alisyn Camerota, along with a panel of assorted guests, criticized President Biden from the left on Friday in the aftermath of his Summit for Democracy. They accused him of preaching democracy to the world while not doing enough to protect democracy at home.
Blackwell kicked things off by addressing CNN political director David Chalian,
...one would not fault the attendees for this Summit for Democracy to kind of peek over the president's shoulder and look at the fight for democracy in his own backyard. Maybe next time he wants to hold this summit in Atlanta because we know that David Perdue is saying that he won't have certified the 2020 election. I mean, this is the running commentary of the president saying we need to spread democracy around the country instead we got problems here too.
Chalian agreed:
The problem is, he says at the end of that and “we're going to get it done,” but there’s been no movement to actually get those democracy protection efforts legislatively done. Not, not with the 60-vote threshold in place, not with senators like Manchin and others opposed to any kind of filibuster reform. So, Joe Biden’s out there touting the importance of having to protect democracy here at home, but without a real path to how to go about doing that.
Camerota then turned to podcaster and journalist Mara Schiavocampo and also worried about the filibuster and that democracy is at risk at home:
He's put so much sweat equity into the Build Back Better plan and into infrastructure, none of that matters if we lose our democracy to autocracy. None of it matters. But I'm not sure what else the president, I mean, clearly people are calling for him to put as much energy into things like as he just talked about, the Freedom to Vote Act, but can he change the filibuster and do all of that.
Schiavocampo responded by giving the impression that other countries actually care about the fate of these bills, "that’s the problem with the optics of what is happening right now because he is now going on a global stage as presenting the United States as kind of the self-appointed voice for democracy when you hear this valid criticism, people are say you can't even get voting rights legislation passed and your party is in control of Congress."
She then claimed that dictatorships could legitimately be upset at the U.S. definition of democracy:
So the problem is on the global stage they presented themselves as these leaders and also they are the one that put together the list. So you have countries like China and Russia saying wait a minute, who made you the arbiters to decide what is-- who is eligible to come sit at this table. And there are so many issues that are taking place at home.
Meanwhile in actual treats to democracy, Russia threatens to extinguish it and unlike CNN Newsroom that is not hyperbole.
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Here is a transcript for the December 10 show:
CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell
2:29 PM ET
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Alright, joining us now CNN political director David Chalian, CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein and journalist Mara Schiavocampo, she is the host of the Run Tell This podcast. Welcome All. David, let me start with you because, one would not fault the attendees for this Summit for Democracy to kind of peek over the president's shoulder and look at the fight for democracy in his own backyard. Maybe next time he wants to hold this summit in Atlanta because we know that David Perdue is saying that he won't have certified the 2020 election. I mean, this is the running commentary of the president saying we need to spread democracy around the country instead we got problems here too.DAVID CHALIAN: Well, I don't think Biden was hiding from the problems here at all. You heard him just point to two legislative efforts. The problem is, he says at the end of that and “we're going to get it done,” but there’s been no movement to actually get those democracy protection efforts legislatively done. Not, not with the 60-vote threshold in place, not with senators like Manchin and others opposed to any kind of filibuster reform. So, Joe Biden’s out there touting the importance of having to protect democracy here at home, but without a real path to how to go about doing that.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Yeah, Mara, I mean, therein lies the rub which is he's put so much sweat equity into the Build Back Better plan and into infrastructure, none of that matters if we lose our democracy to autocracy. None of it matters. But I'm not sure what else the president, I mean, clearly people are calling for him to put as much energy into things like as he just talked about, the Freedom to Vote Act, but can he change the filibuster and do all of that.
MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yeah, well that's the problem and that’s the problem with the optics of what is happening right now because he is now going on a global stage as presenting the United States as kind of the self-appointed voice for democracy when you hear this valid criticism, people are say you can't even get voting rights legislation passed and your party is in control of Congress, so there’s a real optics problem there. There’s also the issue of people saying “how can you could be the leader for democracy less than a year after an attempt to over throw the government.”
So the problem is on the global stage they presented themselves as these leaders and also they are the one that put together the list. So you have countries like China and Russia saying wait a minute, who made you the arbiters to decide what is-- who is eligible to come sit at this table. And there are so many issues that are taking place at home. So that, that is is the rub that he's up against right now. But you certainly understand why you would want to have this kind of democracy pep rally at this time. I think the Biden Administration would argue that you want to reaffirm these values at the time when they're most under assault and the democracy is most vulnerable.
