The Biden Administration’s war on COVID-19 is beginning to look like the Biden’s Administration exit from Afghanistan – inexplicably sad and screwed up.
I’m not sure where to start in chronicling the mess. December alone has brought a flurry of assertions from the president and the vice president that just don’t make sense.
Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview early this month said that the reason the Administration failed to get the pandemic in hand is because they were unprepared for variants.
What? That’s nuts. Since the beginning we’ve been warned that this kind of virus mutates, much like the flu virus. How can that come as a surprise to the vice president. Team Biden tried to explain Ms. Harris was taken out of context. I’m sorry, but that won’t work. Context was clear: She says the president was “surprised” about the variants.
If there’s hope in this mess it is in the national media beginning to say in their coverage “hey, wait a minute” and begin to report the facts. The next three graphs are from national reporting.
On his first full day in office, President Biden signed an executive order to boost the availability of coronavirus testing. Five days later, standing in the White House with his health advisory team by his side, Biden called the fight against covid-19 a “wartime effort” and pledged that tests would be widely available.
In early September, amid the delta variant surge, Biden reiterated the promise that “every American, no matter their income, can access free and convenient tests.”
Now, nearly a full year into Biden’s term, as the virus has mutated its way through the Greek alphabet to the omicron variant, testing is in short supply in many places.
Those are the facts that illustrate the widening gap between Team Biden’s words and Team Biden’s deeds. That is the legacy so far and, rightly, Joe Biden is getting criticized from all sides.
The latest comes from Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. His piece in the Washington Post drove a stake through the foolish notion that Team Biden is on the ball.
“I’ve lived through two pandemics in my lifetime, first AIDS and now covid-19. From those experiences, I know no one roots for our leaders’ failures in such crises. Their successes can be measured in lives saved.
“That’s why it pains me to admit it: President Biden is failing on covid-19.
“After weeks of urging by public health and medical experts, Biden spoke to the public on Tuesday (Dec. 21) about his plan to address the omicron variant, which has swept the world in just a few weeks. Many of us have been asking for a policy “reset” to ramp up U.S. efforts as cases mount across the country. We hoped this would be the moment.
“Sadly, what we saw was an administration floundering and a president not in command of facts or willing to shift course in any substantial way on the pandemic.”
Buckle up, boys and girls, I’m afraid 2022 is going to be one wild ride with the Biden crew in the cockpit.
ONE MORE THING
– Your local Thesaurus Club wishes you an enjoyable, festive, jovial, gleeful, cheerful, mirthful holiday season.
– Pro tip: The phrase “don’t take this the wrong way” has a zero percent chance of success.
– They are working on new pants for old guys. They combine the comfort of Dockers and the protection of Depends. They are called Dry Dockers.
As we head into 2022, let’s avoid soreheads as best we can, be kind to all we meet, laugh a little and always question authority.
Sherman Frederick is a Nevada Hall of Fame journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@ gmail.com.
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