that s what he needs to do to take the initiative as he tries to get, you know, what he can of build back better through congress as he confronts potential international crises like russia and ukraine, as he deals with covid, as he tries to fight inflation. he does have a lot on his plate. but i think the first step is to take the initiative and to go out there and to talk to people directly a lot more. mark, let s play a little bit of what the president said a little later in that press conference. what is the trajectory of the country? is it moving in the right direction now? i don t know how we can say it s not. i don t know how we can say it s not. now, here s the thing, mark. most americans are saying that the country s not in the right trajectory, and recent polls show 68% of americans say things in the country are on the wrong tack track. i m always curious about polls
further. with us tonight eugene robinson, and mark kinnen. welcome to you both this evening. mark, let s start with you. what do you think biden s options are right now? on some levels his path forward is narrow, but on other he has to deal with things that yesterday he could think about avoiding? well, he may not get a whole loaf, maybe not half a loaf but maybe a slice of bread out of joe manchin. he wanted to go to republican and he thought he could get ten republican votes to help on voting recognizes. well, he got zero. this is really three categories of voting rights broadly speaking when it comes to casting ballots, counting ballots and certifying ballots. i think what we re going to get down to now is really focusing on the certification of votes, which at the end of the day you could argue is the most important element of those three. obviously we want all three to be fair and free and not
so we can t have that same fight again. the question is how you get past that 60-vote threshold in the senate. because you have to assume right now that there s no way you re going to get manchin and sinema to move on the filibuster. therefore, i don t see how substantial voting rights legislation gets through unless you get, i don t know, something from susan collins and mitt romney and lisa murkowski and then who were the other seven. i just don t see it. mark, let s talk about that for a second. in fact, i want to show you some video after the vote of what appears to be republican senators congratulating kyrsten sinema on her vote. coming up to her and shaking her hand. you can see it on the left side of your screen there. sinema is wearing a red dress. mark, is there no hope of a