Ed Morrissey writes at HotAir.com about major media outlets’ newfound discovery that a pandemic creates special challenges for a president. If only reporters could have acknowledged that fact one year ago.
Neither CNN nor Politico are incorrect in that approach, but the timing of their epiphanies is certainly … curious. For instance, after a full year of assigning personal responsibility for every COVID-19 development to Donald Trump, Politico suddenly discovered that presidents don’t have total control of pandemic management three weeks into Joe Biden’s term. …
… The irony of their headline about Biden’s voyage of discovery no doubt eluded Politico’s social-media editors. Biden’s not the only one discovering federalism and the limits of executive power, it seems. …
… Just a few weeks ago, all of those issues got painted by the national media as reflecting entirely on the president. Funny how well federalism is being understood just a month into the new administration.
CNN’s coverage also reflects a newfound wisdom on limits. In an analysis of the Biden team’s pandemic handling this morning headlined “Biden team finds promises hard to make — let alone keep,” CNN does correctly point out that this team has a better grasp on expectation setting than Biden’s predecessor. However, even while pointing out that Biden set expectations at or lower than Trump’s actual performance, they largely give Biden a pass over the crisis that defies the easy solutions that Biden was promising right up until he took office. …
… Ahem. Biden repeatedly promised to have schools fully open by April, claimed that the Trump administration had no logistical plan (and no vaccine), and then set a target vaccination rate that the Trump team was already meeting. Remember when Biden insisted he had a plan to defeat COVID-19? To date, we still have not seen any comprehensive policies in place that didn’t originate in the Trump White House.
