If Democrats want to be known as the “party of government,” their beating at the polls come November might dwarf the 2010 mid-term election, in which Barack Obama said his party got “shellacked.”

Democrats at the federal level aren’t demonstrating much ability to govern. The burden weighs heavily because Republicans have proved to be the “anti-government” party. So, Dems must deliver, and so far they haven’t brought home much bacon.

To set the stage, consider these events. Exhibit A is the exit from Afghanistan. We hadn’t put heart or soul into that fight since we invaded Iraq 19 years ago, and Americans wanted out. We had Al Qaeda and the Taliban on the run in 2002, then lost our taste for the chase. Iraq was such a disaster, we never regained a sense of mission in Afghanistan.

We betrayed Afghanis who had helped us for 20 years, leaving behind thousands we had told we would get out safely. Many have been killed or are still trying to get out or have taken to the hills. A party of government should be able to process evacuees in time.

Exhibit B has to be the bungling of President Biden’s spending plan. The unprecedented proposal that eclipsed Depression and World War II spending was doable. Conservatives such as David Brooks of The New York Times backed it because it would have put money into programs that help people who work for a living, rather than those who just move money around, skimming fees off the top with each transfer.

Exhibit C is home-front issues. No one in authority foresaw the return of inflation, even though the stripping down of our supply system by pandemic contractions was an omen. Common sense told us that stimulus spending would push up demand. Take gasoline. The national average price has risen 93 cents since January 2021. Biden’s drawing down the fuel reserve is a mere token. It doesn’t effect price. Anyone can tell you how much more she has paid this year for, say, cheese. The one I usually buy just rose by 14%.

States are showing the feds how it’s done. This week’s wave of Democratic states lifting pandemic limits should have been a lab for the feds. But as California, Connecticut, New York and others opened up things, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Michael Lewis exposed CDC ineptitude in the pandemic book “The Premonition” — doubled down on masks. But is it really too soon for the people to decide? I’ve decided to wear a mask and avoid crowds, except at UMaine women’s basketball games.

In governing, Biden faced two barriers. The Republican Party has shown time and again that it can’t or won’t govern and time and again that it sees its job as foiling government.

The second barrier was within his own party, with two Senate Democrats refusing to go along with his Build Back Better plan. Lyndon Johnson would not have let this happen.

Johnson, needing to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, did two things. He got Majority Leader Mike Mansfield to take the bill directly to the floor, bypassing the Judiciary Committee chair, a bitter racist (and a Democrat). Southern Dems and a few Republicans launched a filibuster that lasted 60 working — no, that word is not a joke — days.

And he reminded Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of his “Land of Lincoln” roots in Illinois and let Dirksen tweak the bill a bit. Dirksen got 32 (of 33) Republicans to go along, ended the filibuster and passed the bill. I still admire Dirksen’s moral courage.

I can’t believe that Biden doesn’t know Senate ways as well as Johnson, but he didn’t use his knowledge to win over his own party. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has built a career on enriching himself — his family owns a coal company that he did not put into his blind trust — and other coal-mine owners. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has built a career in a purplish state on protecting the incomes of her wealthiest donors.

Someone in the White House needed to divide the bill early into parts and build support for each part. Some parts might have failed because even Republicans who pretend to be moderates — think Susan Collins — won’t vote for any Biden bill for fear of retribution by their leader, “Moscow Mitch” McConnell. Still, what’s that old saying about half a loaf?

But some bills could have passed. Put money into a bill for Bath Iron Works to build an additional ship. How could Collins vote no? Put money into training coal miners to work in solar and wind energy. Help the 11,000 West Virginians still working in coal — coal isn’t even among the top three employers there any longer — be part of the future.

Some pundits say the Democrats’ “messaging” is weak. It is weak and confusing, as the CDC’s double-down showed. But if the actions were competent, the messaging would come a lot easier. Governing is the art of making things work. Democrats aren’t doing it.

New York Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens wrote this week that Dems still can win. “Seeing what the G.O.P. just did to Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, maybe Americans will conclude that a Democratic Party that doesn’t understand governance is still preferable to a Republican Party that doesn’t understand democracy.”

I’m not holding my breath.

Bob Neal’s best buddy in college worked for years as a Democratic party operative. The friend says consultants and operatives are destroying his party. He got out years ago. Neal can be reached at [email protected].