Michigan has experienced one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country. And Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would like to convince everyone that her leadership has nothing to do with it at all.
The Democratic governor has faced a good deal of criticism for imposing excessive restrictions and extending her state’s shutdown into mid-June without approval from the state legislature. Whitmer admitted in an interview with Axios on HBO this week that her actions have “not come without a cost” but that they “worked.”
Michigan’s cases are finally trending downward, and that’s good news. But there’s no reason to think Whitmer’s policies caused the decline, especially given how poorly Michigan has fared compared to neighboring states.
Whitmer’s more extreme restrictions — for example, preventing the sale of paint and gardening equipment and forbidding Michiganders from traveling to their vacation homes in the northern part of the state — have merely annoyed people while yielding little value in the way of public health.
And some of her policies have certainly made things worse, such as her executive order forcing nursing homes to accept contagious COVID-19 patients. At least 25% of Michigan’s coronavirus cases have been linked to nursing homes; it’s anyone’s guess how many deaths this caused because Whitmer’s administration (big surprise) refuses to make nursing homes report coronavirus deaths publicly.
Whereas other governors have released clear plans for reopening involving goals and phases, Whitmer has no clear plan. Every time Michigan nears the end date of its stay-at-home order, she simply extends it. The resulting uncertainty has increased public frustration and even encouraged defiance.
To add insult to injury, Whitmer’s husband was busted traveling to their vacation home days after the governor commanded Michiganders not to do just that. More recently, he requested to have his boat put on the water for Memorial Day.
Whitmer’s extreme lockdown policies haven’t stopped Michigan from leading the Midwest in overall and per capita coronavirus deaths. When confronted with this fact, her first instinct has been to deflect blame.
“I’m never going to apologize for the fact that because there was a vacuum of leadership at the federal level, we had to take action to save people here in Michigan,” she told Axios on HBO.
It would be easier to pretend that President Trump forced her hand in Michigan if Trump weren’t president in every neighboring state as well. Somehow, Ohioans quickly flattened their curve. Their death toll per capita is one-third that of Michigan, and they are already eating out and heading back to work. Both Indiana (40% fewer coronavirus deaths per capita than Michigan) and Illinois (20% fewer) have done significantly better, and Wisconsin (80% fewer) has done better by far.
The other logical problem with blaming Trump is that Michigan has not been neglected by his administration or by the federal bureaucracy. When Whitmer has asked for help, she has received it. Michigan got more than 120,000 N95 masks from the federal government, along with millions in funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump is also set to approve Whitmer’s request to extend aid from the National Guard through July 31.
If Whitmer’s complaint is that Trump failed to shut down her state for her, it seems misplaced. He has no such power as president. Does she secretly want him to act like a dictator?
Whitmer messed up. She hesitated to shut her state down in the early days of the outbreak. When she did act, she went too far in locking down people at low risk while placing high-risk nursing home patients in a dangerous situation. Now, she’s full of excuses and eager to blame everyone but herself for the results.
No one could have rightly expected Whitmer to be perfect or to handle this health crisis flawlessly. Governors are human beings, too. But the good ones, the ones who ought to be leaders, are the ones who know how to admit their mistakes.
