"For all the passionate words President Joe Biden delivered in defense of voting rights in his speech yesterday, it was the one word he never mentioned that provoked the strongest response from civil-rights advocates: filibuster," Ronald Brownstein writes.

"Nowhere in his remarks did Biden utter what may go down as the political word of the year. The Senate procedure known as the filibuster now stands as the insuperable obstacle to the new federal voting-rights legislation that represents Democrats’ best chance to counter the restrictive voting laws proliferating in red states."

"Biden’s refusal to call for changes to the filibuster—or even to promise greater personal involvement in passing voting-rights legislation—reinforced the long-standing concern of many advocates that he remains more personally engaged in passing his economic plans, particularly a bipartisan infrastructure deal, than in countering the red-state offensive against voter access."

-Richard Brownstein