President Joe Biden Offers the United States a Tough Coronavirus Path

President Joe Biden’s  latest White House speech offered the United States a tough coronavirus path. Is that politically unwise? Or is it good leadership? 

Politicians love to offer easy solutions to tough problems. “A chicken for every pot,” promised President Herbert Hoover. Hoover’s foolish policies soon led the United States into the calamity of the Great Depression. President Donald Trump offered disinfectant injections and hydroxychloroquine as cheap, easy solutions to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump also said that we had only 15 cases. He even implied that the virus is a hoax and nothing to worry about. Of course, people are always eager to pretend that their problems aren’t real. People are always grateful for easy solutions. Real problems, however, rarely have easy solutions.

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Read: Trump Used Medical Quackery to Divert Attention from Real Issues

Read: Trump Proposed Disinfectant Injections

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Sometimes, real leadership means asking people to make tough choices. It means facing challenges and rising to meet them. 

In his September 10, 2021 speech about the coronavirus, President Joe Biden offered the United States a tough, challenging path to follow. He said that the nation faced major challenges. He warned his listeners that the solution would not be easy. That’s not the route to short-term popularity. It might, however, be the path of wise leadership. 

After listing the public health progress made so far, Biden challenged the American public to handle the coronavirus pandemic. The solutions, of course, were the time-tested methods of wearing a mask, getting vaccinated, and testing people who might be infected: 

“If we raise our vaccination rate, protect ourselves and others with masking and expanded testing, and identify people who are infected, we can and we will turn the tide on COVID-19.

“It will take a lot of hard work, and it’s going to take some time.  Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated, even though the vaccine is safe, effective, and free.”

“Hard work,” Biden said, and “time:” two things that voters don’t like to hear. Biden then offered a series of public-health measures, including mandatory vaccinations or frequent testing for healthcare employees and federal workers.

Furthermore, Biden called out the obstacle that prevents the United States from overcoming the pandemic. That obstacle is not a failure of public-health specialists, but the stubborn refusal, he said, of those who declined to get vaccinated. Biden especially blamed elected officials who exploit people’s fears and ignorance for political purposes:

“We have the tools to combat COVID-19, and a distinct minority of Americans – supported by a distinct minority of elected officials – are keeping us from turning the corner.  These pandemic politics, as I refer to, are making people sick, causing unvaccinated people to die.” 

In a nation overrun by increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories, Biden focused blame on people who spread ridiculous misinformation.

In addition, however, to warning people that solutions would not be instant, that the nation can make real progress in overcoming the disease, keeping schools open, and ensuring business prosperity:

 “The measures — these are going to take time to have full impact.  But if we implement them, I believe and the scientists indicate, that in the months ahead we can reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans, decrease hospitalizations and deaths, and allow our children to go to school safely and keep our economy strong by keeping businesses open.”

This is leadership. I suspect that Biden will turn out to be right. Even if his proposals fall short, however, he is making a serious effort to lead the nation.  He proposes a course of action that might lead the United States out of this public-health disaster. States like Florida and Texas have tried easy solutions, with massive death rates the predictable result. Statistics clearly show that states which have conservative leaders are faring poorly during the pandemic. That cannot be a coincidence. States with mask and high vaccination rates are faring far better. Not only are fewer people sick in those regions, but their economies are doing better as well.

The right thing – the hard course of action – is not always popular. In the long run, however, it is not a President’s job to win elections. It is the President’s job to offer leadership. It is the President’s job to help the nation thrive and to fulfill its potential.

It is not just that President Biden gave the nation tough solutions. He also told his audience that the solutions would be difficult. In an era where few politicians are willing to make tough choices, or even buck the latest two-week opinion polls, Biden in this speech tried to move the nation forward. He proposed a challenge. He told us that it wouldn’t be easy. He told us that it would take time. Those are not pleasant things to hear – but they are probably true.

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Image: White House Photo