WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 26: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about his racial equity agenda in the State Dining Room of the White House on January 26, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden signed executive actions Tuesday on housing and justice reforms, including a directive to the Department of Justice to end its use of private prisons. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden’s pledge that there will be sufficient vaccines for $.300 million Americans
American, postbantennews.com
President Joe Biden’s pledge that there will be sufficient vaccines for $.300 million Americans by the end of summer represents a bold and politically risky response to criticism his pandemic plan lacks ambition.
In effect, the President is putting a date on a return of a semblance of normal life with no guarantee that he can deliver.
If the President succeeds, Tuesday may be remembered as a key turning point in a pandemic exacerbated by the former Trump administration’s disastrous response. Should he fall short, the credibility of his new presidency will take a serious hit, that would not only prolong the crisis into another fall and winter but would also hamper his ambitious program on other key issues.
In a show of presidential power six days into his term, Biden sought to galvanize the action of federal, state and local governments into the kind of unified, national effort that had up until now been lacking during this once-in-century crisis.
“To a nation waiting for action, let me be clearest on this point: Help is on the way,” Biden said Tuesday, after announcing the purchase of another 200 million vaccine doses and a hike in distribution to states within days.
In some ways, Biden’s pledge included some political sleight of hand, since it will not get vaccine supply anywhere near levels demanded by the states in the short-term and he admitted deaths could hit half a million next month. (charlest/henri/pn)
