In political coverage, and especially in cable news, all issues seem polarized to the nth degree.
Either you argue that Donald Trump did an incredible job and Joe Biden is doing a horrible job, or you insist that the opposite is true. Taking a more nuanced position is often dismissed as bland.
I’ve been saying for weeks that, while President Biden is acting aggressively to intensify the problematic vaccine program, President Trump deserves credit for creating Operation Warp Speed - and rarely gets any from the press.
Apparently, I was right, at least according to the New York Times.
Yes, the newspaper that spent four years investigating and often denigrating Trump looked at the progress of vaccines and delivered, well, a fair and balanced report. Yesterday’s Sharon LaFraniere story describes “a more mixed picture, in which the new administration expanded and reinforced a vaccine production effort whose key elements were present” when Biden took over from Trump. “Both governments deserve credit, although neither wants to give the other much.”
Biden’s main moves were to use the Defense Production Act to help Pfizer obtain the heavy machinery needed to expand a factory; pushing Johnson & Johnson “to force a major subcontractor to operate 24 hours a day” and getting rival company Merck to join forces with Pfizer. The president announced yesterday that the government will get another 100 million doses of J&J by the end of the year.
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But the Times also acknowledges that “Biden benefited enormously from the waves of vaccine production that the Trump administration set in motion. As Pfizer and Moderna found their manufacturing base, they were able to double and triple the production of their factories. . “
And then there are the predictable shots of officials from both administrations shooting at each other during the development of the shots. In fact, when I was finishing this column, Trump issued a statement: “I hope everyone will remember that when they are receiving the Covid-10 vaccine (often called the China Virus), if I were not president, you will not ‘have that beautiful ‘photo’ for 5 years, at best, and I probably wouldn’t have it at all. “
Although the public is also polarized, I believe that there is more common sense in the country than inside the Beltway greenhouse.
The House gave final approval yesterday to Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion Covid aid package. Recent polls show broad support for legislation, including about a third of Republicans, as well as the way the president is dealing with the pandemic. But not a single Republican in Congress voted in favor of the bill – and that is what dominated coverage.
Biden is scheduled to give a prime-time speech tonight to praise his legislative victory – and a president who rejected the opportunity would be guilty of political negligence. But what Biden hasn’t done much this week – or any week, in fact – is dealing with journalists. Politico says he is planning a “media blitz” to sell the benefits of the huge package. There will be “fewer planned events and private negotiations with lawmakers, more interactions with the press and appearances before the public”.
But is this true? That would mean more than holding the delayed press conference that Jen Psaki says will happen sometime this month. That would mean a round of interviews with journalists, not just one or two with friendly hosts of opinion.
As for marketing the benefits of this long and complicated measure, it makes sense. Since the GOP has been downloading questionable programs that satisfy leftist groups, Biden and his team are advised to ensure that Americans know how the money will help their bank accounts, schools and vaccine programs.
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The coverage will emphasize partisan war; that’s how Washington works. What you won’t see emphasized is that Biden is adding $ 1,400 stimulus checks to Trump’s $ 600 – and the larger total is exactly what the former president, at the end of the game, insisted he wanted.