The Biden administration’s previously optimistic outlook on the COVID-19 situation wasn’t premature, according to the Biden administration.
You see, President Joe Biden was talking about a “different strain” when he said in his July 4 address that “we’ve gained the upper hand against this virus,” according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
Her remarks came Tuesday during a White House news conference. A journalist pressed Psaki to defend the administration’s plans to revise its masking and social-distancing guidelines dramatically.
“I have a few questions on the CDC’s revised masking guidance,” the reporter began, “that some vaccinated Americans should wear masks indoors where there’s risk of high transmission or currently high transmission. That covers, according to the CDC, about 63% of the country right now, which has significant or high transmission.”
“[H]ow exactly do you plan to push this publicly?” the reporter added, referencing Biden’s July 4th speech wherein the chief executive said, “we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus” and “Thanks to our heroic vaccine effort, we’ve gained the upper hand against this virus. We can live our lives, our kids can go back to school, our economy is roaring back.”
“Was that declaring premature victory? And are you at all concerned that those statements will make it tougher for you guys to implement this revised guidance now?” the reporter asked. “With respect to the president’s comments, though, do you, in retrospect, regret those comments? Do you think that that was wise at the time, considering they could make it tougher for Americans to take this seriously?”
In other words, does Biden regret unfurling the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” flag?
Not really, said Psaki. Things change.
“We have said since the beginning of June,” the press secretary explained, “that the delta variant, a rising variant that was clear from the beginning, had a great deal of transmissibility, was a threat to people who were unvaccinated.”
Psaki, who has the thankless job of defending the administration’s ever-evolving positions, added, “We did more than a hundred interviews with officials conveying exactly that. And the reality is, we are dealing with a much different strain of this virus than we were, even earlier in the spring, back in May, when the masking guidance was provided by the CDC at that time.”
Asked later how the White House intends to address people who feel as if they’re getting whiplash from the administration’s constantly changing COVID-19 guidance, Psaki explained they’re merely trying to save lives.
“Because our goal is to save their lives, and our responsibility and the responsibility of public health officials is to continue to provide updated guidance if it warrants from an evolving virus,” she said.
She also correctly noted Biden’s July 4 address said explicitly, “That’s not to say the battle against COVID-19 is over. We’ve got a lot more work to do.”
You know what? This is OK. It’s OK for a president to be optimistic, even if he ends up being wrong. It doesn’t mean he is unfit for office.
This is as true now for Biden as it was for former President Donald Trump, who was ridiculed and condemned for likewise assuring the nation incorrectly about America’s fight with COVID-19. Trump said it would all blow over in just a matter of months. He was obviously wrong.
He was similarly ridiculed and condemned for reporting correctly that a vaccine would be available by the end of 2020. He was obviously right but still condemned. In both cases, Trump chose optimism. He scored 50%, but the response from his critics was the same in both cases, even after they were proven wrong about vaccine availability.
On the other hand, Biden is facing very little pushback from these same critics, even despite speaking a little too soon about gaining “the upper hand against this virus.”
Things change. It probably has nothing to do with the party affiliation of the guy who resides now in the White House.
