With the help of his media allies, President-elect Joe Biden is trying to present himself as a messiah figure who will be able to lead America out of the darkest days of the pandemic within his first 100 days in office.
The reality is that regardless of any action taken by Biden, we are already on track to be in a much better place by the end of April than we are today. Biden is a politician, and not an especially honest one, so he can be expected to claim responsibility for what was already going to happen. But the media should not abet him in this deception, a ridiculous narrative based on the classic rainmaking con.
The United States has entered the most frustrating phase of the pandemic. Just days away from the first vaccine doses being administered, the nation just eclipsed 3,000 deaths in a single day. There’s no good reason to believe that will be the peak, either.
It is expected that the next few months are going to be devastating, consistent with months of warnings from experts about a likely second winter wave.
But by the time Biden is sworn into office, tens of millions of medical workers and people vulnerable to developing severe COVID-19 will have been vaccinated. If we aren’t past the peak of cases by then, we certainly will be by the end of April, when Biden’s first 100 days expire. That’s why he is making a vow that would be true regardless of any policy taken by his administration.
“My first 100 days won’t end the COVID-19 virus,” Biden declared this week. “I can’t promise that. But we did not get in this mess quickly. We’re not going to get out of it quickly. It’s going to take some time. But I’m absolutely convinced that in 100 days, we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better.”
In his speech, Biden promised that he will require masks on planes, trains, and buses. But airlines, Amtrak, and major interstate bus companies already require masks, so that isn’t even a real promise to do anything.
Biden said he would ask the public to “wear a mask for 100 days.” That also makes no sense. Why announce an arbitrary timeline such as that when public health experts have predicted that masks will still be necessary next year? Vaccinations will not likely be available to everybody who wants one until next fall.
On the vaccination front, Biden has promised to try and get 100 million people vaccinated in his first 100 days. But the plan that is already in place would vaccinate 25 million to 30 million per month anyway, basically the same number as his pledge.
Biden also said that he would prioritize healthcare professionals and those in long-term care. Based on current Trump administration plans, those populations will be largely if not completely vaccinated by the time Biden is sworn into office.
It’s one thing to argue that the U.S. response to the pandemic has been weak up to this point and to argue about how much President Trump is to blame. But given the expected deployment of the vaccine and the end of winter, we were always going to “change the course of the disease” by the end of April. Biden’s promise to do what was already going to happen should be laughed at for what it is, not extolled as something it is not.
It is understandable that as a politician, Biden wants to portray himself as somebody who saved America from a deadly pandemic. But it would be embarrassing were the media to play along.
