'Manchin should think hard' about what 'mobilize the middle' means if he 'can’t find a center': column

In a Sunday, November 12 Washington Post op-ed, columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. questions U.S. Senator Joe Manchin's (D-WV) purpose for declining to run for re-election.

Manchin's decision to retire, Dionne notes, "was met with mourning from some Democratic leaders and a lot of good-riddances from progressives still furious over how much of President Biden's agenda he blocked."

The Democratic leader claims he is ready to travel the country, speak out, and "see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle."

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Dionne points out, "Manchin's mobilize-the-middle trip is seen as a potential bid to run as a third-party candidate on No Labels' bipartisan 'unity ticket.' The group says it's seeking a middle-of-the-road alternative to President Biden and former president Donald Trump.

He writes:

Although there's a case that Manchin's brand is now so conservative that he might actually hurt Trump if he ran, the high likelihood is that a moderate third-party candidate would, on net, drain votes from Biden, too. That was the conclusion of a careful Wall Street Journal analysis on Friday and a study by the anti-Trump conservative outlet the Bulwark. No one who believes in moderation should want to take that risk.

Asserting that "Manchin should think hard about where to find 'the middle' in our politics right now," Dionne notes, "It's not the midpoint between a center-left Democratic Party and an increasingly right-wing Republican Party. Nor will he find mathematically ideal forms of moderation by splitting the difference between a moderately progressive president dedicated to democracy and a much-indicted extremist given to saying kind things about dictators."

According to Dionne, Matt Bennett, a vice president of the moderate Democratic nonprofit Third Way, said, "You can't find a center between an authoritarian right-wing populism and a normal, small-d democratic party."

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Dionne writes, "My guess is that Manchin will not be the No Labels candidate and that he'll pass on a third-party run that would hurt the country and his legacy. Surely, he does not want to go down in history as the guy who gave us Trump again."

However, referring to Manchin's travel plans, the columnist emphasizes, "There's nothing like a good road trip, but fruitful expeditions require a sense of where you're going."

Dionne's full column is available here (subscription required).