Democrats must find a way to talk about the facts regarding the pandemic, or they could be liable for the consequences.
Throughout the 21st century, Democrats have been known as the “party of scientific research, ” which has worked well for them. In the face of threats from Republicans who oppose the climate crisis, block the research on stem cells, as well as denounce the protocols to combat infectious diseases in public areas, Democrats have argued that Americans should be able to adhere to scientific findings as well as the health and safety standards that are in place to protect everyone. But as the Covid-19 virus continues to plague the United States, with the death toll increasing to one million, Democrats do not have a clear plan to show their commitment to tackling the health care crisis that is still lingering and is only one option away from becoming a crisis. They also lack a strategy for holding accountable the people who didn’t consider it a serious issue.
It’s a risky approach during a midterm year when the pandemic and the economic and social turmoil that has followed will continue to dominate our lives. There will be a need for people to be vaccinated or boosted mandatory vaccinations are needed in certain areas, as well as concerns about inflation, much of it due to the patterns of profiteering that emerged in the aftermath of the pandemic will be an issue that is front and center.
President Biden and his staff have, for the majority, had better goals and improved management in the fight against Covid-19. Biden has demonstrated the respect for scientists that Donald Trump eschewed. The White House’s new Covid response coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, has a proven track record of keeping track of the research and promoting health equity. However, a year into their presidency of, Biden, the Democrats haven’t delivered on his pledge for the country to “Build Back Better” and remain hesitant about the most sensible response to a health crisis of this size creating a single-payer Medicare for All plan so that our health system will benefit patients and not profit. Also, they have not adopted the rugged path of investigating all the possible reasons -Trump’s lies, lack of protections at work, vaccine doubts- that explain why our United States has had a more pronounced death rate than other wealthy nations. With many things still to be done, Democratic governors are busy taking off masks and declaring that we’re entering a vague “next phase of the pandemic.”
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Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center, has advised about “complacency as we decide we no longer need masks, making it harder to take action when the next variant comes along.” It’s not an entirely new idea. Most Americans believe that masks mandates should be kept in place wherever the risk is high. However, just 21 percent of respondents said in a poll in February that they believed that the US would need to “open up and get back to life as usual with no mandates or requirements.” The polls conducted across the country show that local vaccination mandates are popular, typically receiving 70 percent or more.
Americans have every right to be in a state of anxiety about the pandemic. This year’s March saw roughly twice the number of deaths as the same period in March of last year. The numbers have increased and declined, only to rise again over the past two years. “Historically, even during this pandemic, every time we thought we could discard our masks, another variant came along to disturb our complacency–Delta, now Omicron and perhaps its relative BA.2–and we were almost right back where we started,” Morse observed. This is a fact of science. Democrats must be better at talking about.
While Biden generally gets his policies right, he fails both rhetorically and physically. In this instance, the president’s Covid-19 readiness plan is a solid one, including consistent stress on the necessity of taking vaccinations; a plan to deploy vaccines when required swiftly; a pledge to ensure that vaccines, tests, and masks are accessible for free, and a pledge of prioritizing treatment to people with immunocompromised. However, the plan shifts the burden to the most vulnerable people and does not recognize the epidemic as a social issue. In Biden’s State of the Union address in March, Biden seemed unfocused and sometimes desperate, such as when he stated, “Let’s use this moment to set the stage for a new beginning. Also, let’s stop looking at Covid as a party division line. Look at it as what it really is A terrible disease.”
It’s not likely to happen in an election year with a midterm where Republicans have already made clear that they’ll take advantage of every opportunity to retake Congress. They are likely to capitalize on the fact that, according to what Biden admitted, Americans are “tired, frustrated, and exhausted.” However, at the same time, they’ll blame Democrats for their rising costs and the chaos that can ensue if the new version of the disease is introduced.
For Democrats, nothing good could be gained from ignoring threats that are still looming. President Obama and his political party should unapologetically and aggressively keep their focus on adhering to science, even if it requires making hard choices and challenging the soaring prices of corporations who continue to announce record profits while increasing costs for consumers. Instead of sending confusing signals that let Republicans dominate the story, Democrats should clarify the Covid debate by highlighting the glaring inequities the pandemic is revealing and trying to correct the issues. They should show a broader commitment to workers’ health and public health and be unambiguous advocates for essential elements in the Build Back Better program, which the GOP has rejected. The Democratic leadership should not let the American citizens forget that the top Republicans have consistently ignored the public good and science–and they will keep doing so should they win the midterm elections.
The public can take the truth when presented regularly and with seriousness. Biden should take a page from Franklin Roosevelt, who, during the Great Depression, used everything from national speeches to fireside talks to inform Americans of the facts regarding difficult times. With many things at stake, Biden and the Democrats should communicate more about the challenges which remain and about Republican criminals who play politics with the death of a person.
Nicholson Nichols is the national coverage reporter of The Nation and the author of the latest publication, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers Accountability for the People who caused the crisis (Verso). Nichols is also the writer of The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The History of Henry Wallace’s Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics, Verso and the Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America, from Nation Books; and co-author along alongside Robert W. McChesney, of People Prepare to Fight a jobless economy and a Citizenship-less Democracy.
