Hardly a day goes by without reading an article featuring a progressive demanding that “Biden must abolish the filibuster.” Say what? Biden doesn’t have any control over the Senate’s rules. These people need to be talking to Joe Manchin, not Biden.
The reason they aren’t, of course, is that they (correctly) perceive that they have no influence whatsoever with Manchin. What are they going to do? Threaten to primary him in one of the reddest of red states if he doesn’t buy into the entire progressive agenda? Cancel him on Twitter? He would probably view that as a badge of honor.
The bottom line is that the filibuster is here to stay for at least the next two years. Bernie Sanders is more realistic about that than most of his supporters. There are two ways to deal with it: reconciliation; and pairing Democratic initiatives with items designed to attract Republican votes. Expect to see both of these tactics in the next few months.