Democrats bury heads in sand
https://www.axios.com/biden-recess-plan-omits-afghanistan-c4d12d5c-8cf5-4e55-b5b3-6aef70ff876b.html
The White House is downplaying Afghanistan in outside-the-Beltway events during the August congressional recess, hoping voters will pay more attention to President Biden's big spending plans.
Why it matters: Democrats privately fear political blowback, even though the White House insists voters aren't talking about the Kabul calamity.
What they're saying: White House senior adviser Neera Tanden didn't mention Afghanistan once when Axios asked her how much the events of the past week will affect what Biden can accomplish on the Hill.
"We developed our plan around August recess in July," she said. "We planned for a cadence of multiple events a week around Build Back Better and infrastructure and we have been operationalizing that plan and will continue to do so."
"So we’re going to continue that work, and this agenda is important to the public."
Behind the scenes: Since joining the White House in May as senior adviser to Biden, Tanden has kept a low profile. But her role, after losing a confirmation fight to be Biden's budget director, is setting her up to have outsized power in helping sell the president's agenda.
When Tanden helped create the White House plan for selling Democrats' agenda during the August recess, Afghanistan wasn't among the policy priorities to discuss with voters. It still isn't.