You don't have to wait for an infrastructure bill to arrive on Joe Biden's desk. John Avlon and CNN Newsroom substitute host Erica Hill began Wednesday's show by hailing and fawning over President Biden for having most transformative and impactful first year as president since Ronald Reagan.
Hill began by insisting that, "we can't ignore the historical significance here" and asking Avlon just "How big of an accomplishment is this for President Biden at this point in his first year?"
Avlon agreed, calling it "Huge, and I think that's the way to think about this. Well, I don't think any Democratic president has had a more impactful first year legislatively since LBJ. In terms of any president, I think you've got to go back to Reagan's first year where he was able to pass with bipartisan margins, a budget plan that changed the trajectory of American politics in fundamental ways."
Avlon declared, "This is a huge win, not just for Biden's promise he could make government work and cobble together bipartisan consensus on the infrastructure bill, which is a huge deal, a trillion dollars after Republican killed a $60 billion infrastructure bill just a decade ago."
As for the $3.5 trillion budget, he added "But then in this broader budget, and yes, there are still hurdles ahead. But there are going to be negotiations within the Democratic conference. So, in many ways the mostly difficult hurdle has been passed and it is a historic day for the Biden Administration and a vindication many ways of the president's vision that he could get things done again in Washington despite all the divisions."
In a sense, Hill and Avlon aren't wrong. The budget bill would be historic like LBJ... historically awful. But the media hailing Democratic priorities as historic and transformative is not new. They did it with Obamacare, they're doing it now with Biden's budget, and they will likely do it with the next Democratic president's agenda. No one on the set seemed to realize Avlon was dissing Obamacare as less than "huge"!
This segment was sponsored by Lincoln.
Here is a transcript of the August 11 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
9:03 AM ET
ERICA HILL: John Avlon, we can't ignore the historical significance here. How big of an accomplishment is this for President Biden at this point in his first year?
JOHN AVLON: Huge, and I think that's the way to think about this. What are the historical comps if any to this? Well, I don't think any Democratic president has had a more impactful first year legislatively since LBJ. In terms of any president, I think you've got to go back to Reagan's first year where he was able to pass with bipartisan margins, a budget plan that changed the trajectory of American politics in fundamental ways. This is a huge win, not just for Biden's promise he could make government work and cobble together bipartisan consensus on the infrastructure bill, which is a huge deal, a trillion dollars after Republican killed a $60 billion infrastructure bill just a decade ago. But then in this broader budget, and yes, there are still hurdles ahead. But there are going to be negotiations within the Democratic conference. So, in many ways the mostly difficult hurdle has been passed and it is a historic day for the Biden Administration and a vindication many ways of the president's vision that he could get things done again in Washington despite all the divisions.
