EJ Dionne: Biden successfully navigates delicate balance on infrastructure bill, if inartfully

After a major bipartisan win on infrastructure last week, President Biden nearly stepped in it when he declared he’d only sign it if a separate bill including his other priorities arrived on his desk “in tandem” with the infrastructure bill.

Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne told Boston Public Radio on Monday Biden’s statements — and the frantic weekend of backtracking that followed — highlight just how complicated and fragile our current political system is.

“In effect, we have what I count as the six party system,” he said.

The majority of the Democratic party is comprised of “the Biden part of the party,” but there are progressives and conservatives on either side of that, said Dionne. On the Republican side there are the loyal Trump supporters; economic conservatives, who Dionne referred to as the “McConnell-ites … who want to make Biden’s life miserable”; and a small cadre of moderate conservatives.

“In order to get done what he wants to get done, Biden has to play the politics of both of these complicated parties,” said Dionne, who noted that the Presidents’ efforts to assuage all six factions appear to be successful so far.

EJ Dionne is a columnist for the Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His latest book is Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite To Save Our Country.