OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
In addition to the normal response by the opposing party, in this case Republicans, to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address the president faces another response and it is from his own party.
Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib will give the response from the progressive Democrats and some Democrats are furious with her for it, MSN reported.
Tlaib will also respond, for the Working Families party. It will not be the only Democratic response: Collin Alred of Texas will speak for the Congressional Black Caucus.
One moderate Democrat, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, said Tlaib’s decision to speak was “like keying your own car and slashing your own tires”.
Tlaib said: “Despite some sensational coverage, it’s simple: I’m giving a speech about supporting President Biden and his Build Back Better agenda for the people.”
Build Back Better, valued at $1.75tn and meant to improve health and social care and address the climate crisis, passed the House with moderate support. But it stalled in the Senate, opposed by Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
The Michigan representative is said to be focusing her attention on the fact that President Biden did not get his Build Back Better agenda passed, which is a bone of contention for many Democrats.
“Obstructionist Republicans and a handful of corporate Democrats have ground Washington to a standstill while child poverty spikes and costs continue to rise for housing, healthcare and childcare,” the Democrat Party National Director Maurice Mitchell. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
But Gottheimer believes that Tlaib’s speech is going to be “massively counterproductive.”
“This only highlights the real tension between the socialist far left and the common-sense moderate wing, which is focused on crime, costs, tax cuts and affordability and turning the page on Covid,” he said.
Texas Democrat Filemon Vela called it “astonishing” that the “radical left continues to promote a Democratic death wish, and sees no problem relegating our party to the permanent minority.”
Rep. Tlaib’s response to the State of the Union could be the speech that gets the most attention on Tuesday.
“No one fought harder for Build Back Better and a pro-democracy agenda than progressives,” the representative said to Politico. “The work is unfinished and we’re not giving up on what our communities deserve. We need to get as much done for the people as we can this year, and elect a majority that can deliver for working families in 2023.”
Comedian and HBO host of “Real Time,” Bill Maher, who is a Democrat, shredded Rep. Tlaib for giving a response to the Biden speech.
“Now, I’ve always seen the opposition party give a rebuttal. This is from the same party. This is like sacking your own quarterback,” he said on Friday. “I don’t know, maybe she’s gonna say some nice things about Joe, but basically it’s to present- … bad idea for the Democrats?”
Chloé Vandary, the founder of Theory of Enchantment, defend the representative for giving her own take of the State of the Union.
“I don’t know if it’s a bad idea,” she said, arguing that it’s good to “hold their party’s feet to the fire.”
“I remember she’s very us versus them,” he said. “I remember because she’s one of the Squad members. And I remember we talked about on this show one night BDS, which is the boycott that some people want to do against Israel, because Israel somehow got to be the Nazis. … And I said no- that BDS is a bunch of bulls—.”
“And then Rashida Tlaib called for me to be boycotted, so was saying we shouldn’t boycott and then her answer was, ‘We’re gonna boycott you. … So when people say, ‘You know, ‘why are you so hard on the left these days? Bulls— like that is why. We have a different opinion about this issue called BDS and you want to just boycott me,” he said.
