Stuck in the Middle
Former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin defends common sense — and his record — in a new political memoir
Dwight Eisenhower once observed, “The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.” Former Senator Joe Manchin would certainly agree with that sentiment. In his new memoir, Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense, Manchin argues forcefully for compromise, bipartisanship, honesty, and levelheadedness — traits which, according to him and reinforced by any casual perusal of news headlines, are now in very short supply in American politics.
Manchin grew up in Farmington, West Virginia, in an era when the state was dominated by Democrats. In Dead Center, he describes how the experiences of his youth formed the values, family and otherwise, that have guided him through life. It’s a typical American story of coming of age in a middle-class, Christian family, working in the family business, and playing high school sports (in Manchin’s case football, which explains why the book’s foreword is by Nick Saban). In his hometown, he notes, “There was no distinction between family and community because, in a town that small, the two were one and the same.”
In the introduction, Manchin lays out his “rules of the road,” 14 guiding principles based on a lifetime of work and service. They range from simple aphorisms (“The road to success is always under construction”) to sound leadership advice (“Listen with an open mind, embrace diverse perspectives, and lead by bringing everyone to the table”). The ensuing chapters illustrate his rules with examples from in and out of public service.
Manchin’s first foray into politics was in 1982, when he earned a seat in the state legislature. He was elected governor in 2004, then served as a U.S. senator for 15 years during three presidential administrations. Through virtually all that time he was a Democrat, a proud member of the party that had helped form his values by advocating for the working class. But by the end of his time in Washington he had withdrawn from the party that molded him and declared himself an Independent.
Much of the book is an explanation of Manchin’s journey to party independence or, as he puts it, “to pull back the curtain on who I am, the principles that drive me, the thought process behind my decisions, and the values that shape my resolve.” His values and resolve earned him the reputation as a maverick, one not afraid to buck the party, to get himself into trouble by taking unpopular positions. Some of the most interesting parts of the book are his accounts of resisting pressure from party leaders — including presidents — to toe the party line. He is still unpopular among liberal Democrats for being the vote that sank President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. Manchin is frank about the extreme tactics used against him in that fight and unapologetic about his reasons for holding firm.
Manchin is also forthright about his belief that today’s extreme politics — left and right — are unsustainable and a real threat to the United States. He blames the parties and the voters for our current troubles, noting among other problems the closed primaries favored by both Republicans and Democrats and the gerrymandering that has led to single-party rule in many states. These, he says, “are all symptoms of the same problem: voter disengagement and apathy.”
The cure will not be easy. Today, Manchin is out of public office but not out of politics. He works for Americans Together, a centrist group founded by his daughter that provides support for the “sensible majority” who reject the extremes. He sees the future in the road, not the gutters.
A Michigan native, Chris Scott is an unrepentant Yankee who arrived in Nashville more than 30 years ago and has gradually adapted to Southern ways. He is a geologist by profession and an historian by avocation.
