There is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level. My message to the governors is simple: if you need something, say something. We’re going to have your back any way we can.
President Biden on Monday
Joe Biden forever insisted the all-powerful US government alone could “overcome this deadly virus” and belittled red-state plans as the work of science-denying GOP governors. He was always wrong, because the framers of the constitution adopted federalism to ensure good governance for we the people in our diverse continental nation. If Democrats would drive across – and stop flying over – America, they’d know “states rights” are not about suppressing votes.
The President’s embrace of federalism and states rights is less philosophical epiphany and more the act of a forced follower, because candidate Biden promised to “shut down the virus, not the country (presidents, in fact, cannot shut down the country because of the 10th amendment). The fact of the matter is this president realized America was “still in it” and voters were “frustrated” and “tired” of no results.
Only then did he revert back to the Trump Doctrine that sees a “one size fits all” cure for a “novel” disease as less effective than 50 state-level solutions. Trump saw the regional differences – economic and medical – and stood aside to let governors manage their individual states.
18 months later, the nannies in Albany and Sacramento had clearly not governed better than the mavericks in Tallahassee and Austin. As the table below shows, GOP governors DeSantis and Abbot did OK.
| STATE | POP RANK | INFECTED | DEAD | OVER-65 VACCINATED |
| CA | 1 | 5,329,067 | 76,368 | 87% |
| TX | 2 | 4,523,360 | 75,796 | 84% |
| FL | 3 | 3,936,170 | 62,389 | 89% |
| NY | 4 | 3,214,893 | 58,604 | 89% |
The data in nanny states California and New York aren’t much different than open-up states Texas and Florida, but that didn’t stop Biden from taking a veiled shot at the Republicans last Tuesday, when he announced he was dumping the top-down approach that clearly was not working:
“You know, these personalities are [peddling] misinformation that can kill [their] own supporters. It’s wrong, it’s immoral, and I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it. Stop it now!”
Who’s the liar here? Probably the politician promising vaccines “fully protect” and masks “slow the spread” from his bully pulpit, while keeping borders open to unvaccinated immigrants. Probably not the governor saying open borders amplify COVID in Texas, or the governor saying shut-downs will kill Florida’s economy in need of tourists. Surely, a Democrat elected to restore decency calling Republicans “science deniers.”
Necessity forced Biden to the middle, as evidenced by his Omicron speech last week, when he credited Trump for the vaccines and did not close shops and schools. After Monday’s call to governors, the CDC reduced quarantine days and Biden spoke of empowering states. It’s as if Bill Clinton has inhabited his body, because Joe Biden is pivoting to the middle like his hair’s on fire.
Necessity found Bill Clinton in 1994, after Newt Gingrich hit him with the Contract with America. Waking up to a GOP Congress (54 senators and 230 reps), Bill tuned out Hillary and found welfare reform, anti-crime legislation and balanced budgets to his liking. By the way, he owes his glowing legacy to Gingrich.
A similar mid-term fate awaits Biden, so his COVID re-set must be the work of a savvy political handler, right? I hate being cynical, but Joe Biden is no Bill Clinton, and a states-rights epiphany in the Oval Office is too good to be true.