The White House needs to show Joe Manchin who's boss like Republicans would: Lincoln Project adviser

In a conversation about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) destroying the Build Back Better bill, Lincoln Project adviser Tara Setmayer explained that the White House should use its power to pressure him.

The White House said they've been trying to work with Manchin for months but noted he doesn't have the "courage" to support things like the child tax credit, which has overwhelming support. Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told CNN's Jake Tapper that they should vote on the bill and force Manchin and Republicans to be on the record that they refuse to support the legislation. Setmayer explained that such a strategy clearly isn't working and urged another approach.

"Well, I think that is a losing strategy. I mean, it sounds great rhetorically, however, the American people are not paying attention to who votes no on what and when," she said. "Most people have no idea what is even in the Build Back Better bill, which is part of the problem to begin with. So it sounds great as a political challenge, does not work politically."

Just a month ago, Sanders infuriated Manchin by writing an op-ed in a local West Virginia paper. Sanders could undoubtedly go to the state to speak to voters about the policy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) focused on West Virginia when addressing the opioid epidemic. A visit from her talking about the policy could also help tell the state how it would help them. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden could conduct small town halls with Dr. Jill Biden speaking to educators and trade schools about how the bill would benefit their students.

"The other thing about Joe Manchin you have to understand is, yes, that may be true that he has financial interests in the coal industry. But West Virginia has the largest coal jobs in the country," Sanders also explained. While the state certainly has a lot of coal mining, just 5.4 percent of the West Virginia economy depends on those coal jobs.

"The coal industry is incredibly powerful because it is one of the driving economic factors in creating jobs in that state," Setmayer said. "So, of course, as the senator from West Virginia, he is going to be partial to the needs of the coal industry. So, you have to take that into consideration also. And recent polling shows that he is very popular in West Virginia. He is over 60 percent approval rating in the state, and over 60 percent of the people in West Virginia support his position against Build Back Better. So, in this instance, Joe Manchin is doing a better job messaging why he is against Build Back Better in its current form than the administration is doing in convincing people why he needs to vote for it."

That's when she suggested that Biden give a little more pressure by using the power of the White house.

"So, Joe Biden needs to demonstrate that he has a little bit more -- I think a little bit more oomph behind his words here," she said. "Everybody loves Uncle Joe, but he needs to use the power of the presidency to demonstrate there are consequences if you go against what the White House's agenda is. I don't think Joe Manchin or Sinema really fears what the -- what the retribution will be if they don't go along with some type of compromise here."

See the discussion below:

Joe Manchin has no idea what he's talking aboutwww.youtube.com