The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website page on the pandemic declares in bold letters, “COVID-19 Alert: Cases are Extremely High. Avoid Travel.” So, why is President Biden about to embark on a recreational trip to his home in Delaware? Why is he putting others at risk?
Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki a toothless version of those questions at the public briefing on Friday, and Psaki said Biden was making the nonessential trip home because, well, he felt like it.
“He is from Delaware and has a home there and is going to spend the weekend with his wife and family there,” she said.
Pressed further on the CDC guidance, Psaki tried sounding scientific, saying, “Well, the key, Zeke, is ensuring that people don’t take steps to make others vulnerable in our effort to get the pandemic under control.”
True, but the “key” there, according to health experts, is staying home unless a person absolutely has no choice but to travel. Biden is now president, and the White House is his home. There’s no reason for him to fly to Delaware that is any different from the reasons millions of people traveled during the holidays (also against CDC guidance).
Recall that during the 2020 campaign, Biden was rarely, if ever, seen outside of his home basement. The situation surrounding the pandemic hasn’t really changed since then. Thousands of people continue to die. New cases are added to the daily total.
Psaki also took the John Kerry route, explaining that Biden is special.
“As you know, any president of the United States, Democrat or Republican, obviously takes Air Force One, a private plane, when they travel,” she said.
It’s a private plane, but getting that plane in the sky and then back on the ground requires a very large entourage to accompany Biden aboard. It requires pilots, a flight crew, Secret Service, and a security detail.
The rest of us needed none of that when we ventured to see loved ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and yet we were called selfish for doing it.
Biden, we’re told, isn’t selfish. He’s just special.
