When it comes to standing up against the right-wing, a single Republican can derail the entire Democratic caucus. Democrats become Keystone Cops, the Three Stooges, the worlds weakest man.
However, when it comes to the base of the Democratic Party, when it comes to a vast majority of the voters, the party establishment become the Spartans out of 300. Suddenly they are bold and brave, even cocky. You can tell that Democrats are in their natural element when it comes to undermining progressives and their causes.
The Democratic Party is really only inspired when they are thwarting the will and destroying the hopes of their own voters.

Marijuana legalization is a winning issue, but unfortunately it is also popular with the Left, so the Democratic Party establishment has no choice but to oppose marijuana legalization.

A record high of 68% of U.S. adults support the legalization of marijuana, according to the October survey of over 800 adults released Thursday.

That’s the same amount of people who were in favor of legalizing the drug last year.

The numbers are consistent with a Pew survey released in April that found 60% of U.S. adults believe medical and recreational use should be legal, 31% believe only medical use should be legal and 8% believe no form of use should be legal.

Naturally a politician shouldn't take the side of the 8%, because that will get you voted out of office. But progressives have left the Democrats no other choice. It's not like the Democrats could actually advance a popular issue that a overwhelming percentage of the voters demand and score an easy win.

President Joe Biden can grant mass amnesty to people who have violated federal marijuana laws, congressional researchers said in a new report, adding that his administration can also move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.

Among the 15 states where marijuana legalization has been put in front of voters since 2012, it’s won in 13. Legalization has come up for a vote in four states that former President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2020. It’s won in three of those states.
Now if progressives hated and opposed something, then the Democrats could move on it. Those are the rules. I didn't invent them. Biden did.

“Whoever owns legal weed nationally, it’s all gravy. There’s no downside. None. When South Dakota democratically votes for it, in what circles is this controversial?” Fetterman said, noting that voters in deep red South Dakota approved recreational marijuana in the same year the state went strongly for Trump.
..
“Nothing has changed,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at the time when asked if Biden agreed with Schumer’s proposal.

Both Schumer’s proposal and House Democrats’ proposed Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, would remove that designation entirely in an effort to give the green light to states to enact full legalization — which 18 states have already done despite the federal prohibition.

Biden, on the other hand, has said he wants to redesignate marijuana as a Schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. That is the same designation as cocaine and methamphetamine and would still classify marijuana as a drug with a high potential for abuse, according to the DEA.

Wow. Schedule II. How Tough! How bold! While Biden has said that he would support expungement, he is far more concerned with keeping those dirty pot smokers in prison.
Biden is for defending the status quo along with the other 8%.

Based on his public remarks, he seems genuinely conservative on the issue — arguing only for decriminalization (in which the threat of jail or prison time is removed for possession, but sales remain illegal), and calling for “more scientific investigations” into the issue, particularly whether pot is a “gateway drug.”
Biden, after all, not just supported but spearheaded many of the country’s current drug war policies.

Meanwhile, HUD still “prohibit admission to HUD rental assistance programs based on the illegal use of controlled substances, including state legalized medical marijuana.”

So while the Democratic Party bravely fights on against overwhelming odds, with the stated goal of denying any sort of win to progressives, because there is no more noble of an achievement than to deny justice and thwart the left for the sake of denying justice and thwarting the left.
The Republicans, after fear-mongering and destroying civil liberties, are now set to lap the Democrats on this issue.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced legislation Monday to federally decriminalize marijuana, a measure she said would give states freer rein to pass their own laws and regulations without fear of federal reprisals.

The measure, which Mace said she hoped would garner broad GOP support, was met immediately with criticism from conservatives in her home state, some of whom vowed opposition to any effort toward legalization.

In announcing the bill during a Washington news conference on Monday, Mace said a half-dozen GOP House members would be original co-sponsors of the bill, which she said would aim to regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol and prohibit its use for anyone under 21 years of age.