Analysis: A grave week for civil rights, democracy and a presidency

The party faces a moment of stark symbolism just a day after the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., which Democrats had set as a deadline to pass new laws to counter Republican curtailments on voting in multiple states. Votes expected to be called by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will enshrine ideological divides in the party and call into question the credibility of an under-pressure President who has led a full-throated campaign for legislation demanded by modern civil rights leaders in the week that he marks his anniversary in office.

Despite several early term successes, the voting rights standoff, and a separate but similar one over Biden’s social welfare and climate plan, emphasize the near-impossibility of enacting major reform with a 50-50 Senate majority. All it takes is one senator to stall an entire agenda. A failed voting rights drive will also deal a blow to Black leaders who were instrumental to Biden’s win in the Democratic primary and the election in 2020. Many of those campaigners believe that the White House waited too long to make voting rights the main focus on his presidency — notwithstanding the fact that Biden had no credible path to passing the bills into law. Without the legislation, there could be serious consequences for Democratic enthusiasm and turnout in vital swing states in November’s midterm elections.

In a broader sense, the roadblock that Biden has hit in the Senate reveals the reality of a President who is in power but is unable to wield the full weight of his office because of tiny congressional majorities delivered by voters in 2020. The situation is exacerbated by almost blanket Republican opposition — save for a bipartisan infrastructure deal last year that evaded ex-Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama but that Biden delivered in one of his major achievements.

This week’s theater will create a fresh picture of the futility of Democratic power in Washington. Yet the obstacle to passing voting rights reform and the Build Back Better climate and spending bill were obvious long ago. But the White House and Democratic leaders chose to press ahead anyway with no clear path to success. Absent some last minute reversal by Manchin and Sinema, which is highly unlikely, the current snarl raises questions about the White House’s political strategy and decision to prepare the public for historic generational reforms without the guarantee that they could be enacted. At this point, there is a strong sense that Senate votes are being held for mostly political reasons rather than in any expectations they will deliver new laws.

When they hit the Senate wall, it’s not clear what Democrats will do next. Asked on Monday about the administration’s plans, Harris said the strategy was to “keep working on it.”

“I’m making calls and meeting with folks. We’re not going to give up. You’ve heard me say that before, and I mean it. This is too important,” the vice president told reporters.

It’s true that the story of the civil…