Joe Biden had insisted repeatedly during his campaign that, unlike President Trump, he had a definitive plan on combating COVID-19. Prior to the election, Biden’s team touted the ambitious “Biden plan
to combat coronavirus and prepare for future global health threats.”
Biden outlined a medical response including “a decisive public health response that ensures the wide availability of free testing; the elimination of all cost barriers to preventive care and treatment for COVID-19; the development of a vaccine; and the full deployment and operation of necessary supplies, personnel, and facilities.”
He also detailed an economic response in which he would “start with emergency paid leave for all those affected by the outbreak and gives all necessary help to workers, families, and small businesses that are hit hard by this crisis,” as well as taking “further decisive action to address the larger macro-economic shock from this outbreak.”
In a tweet just prior to the election, Biden assured the American public that “We’re eight months into this pandemic, and Donald Trump still doesn’t have a plan to get this virus under control. I do.”
Biden stressed that “in a moment of crisis, leadership requires listening to experts and communicating credible information to the American public. We must move boldly, smartly, and swiftly.”
Yet just days into his presidency, the “credible information to the American public” appeared in the form of another tweet stating that “There’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months.”
If there is nothing that we can do, how could Biden have touted such a detailed plan in recent months. And how could he say that “we must move boldly and swiftly” if, having attained the presidency, he does not intend to move at all “in the next several months”?
Could it be that Biden thought he had a plan but later realized that whatever he was suggesting had already been implemented but had not succeeded in curbing COVID-19?
Or did he know at the time that his plan was just a pipe dream designed to persuade a frightened, COVID-stricken electorate to vote for him?
Whatever the case, Biden needs to inject some hope into the nation and not claim so swiftly that “there’s nothing we can do.”
(Vosizneias)