It may be the case that the problem children are Manchin and Sinema, and not Biden and other Democratic leaders. But still, the ultimate problem remains: Any time spent on fake "negotiations" with Republicans is time wasted, and every moment wasted is a moment in which Democratic hopes of winning in 2022 and 2024 — which are already dim, due to gerrymandering and outright GOP cheating — fade even further. If there's any hope of Democrats retaining power, they need to get the economy moving and, ideally, to pass bills to protect voting rights. Letting Republicans waste time so that Democrats can do neither isn't just bad for the American people, it's political suicide, drawn out slowly each day that these crucial bills are fake-negotiated instead of brought up for a vote in Congress. 

-Amanda Marcotte in Salon.com