[ad_1]
(CNN) – President John F. Kennedy urged Americans not to ask what the country could do for them, but what they could do for their country. When he takes the same oath next month, Joe Biden will plead with the nation to do exactly the same thing, albeit in more prosaic terms. This time with an invitation to all Americans to wear face masks during their symbolic first 100 days in office.
The president-elect revealed his administration’s first galvanizing and selfless national call in an exclusive interview on CNN alongside vice president-elect Kamala Harris. In it, he anticipated an abrupt change of direction when he succeeded President Donald Trump.
“It’s only 100 days to wear a mask, it’s not forever. A hundred days. And I think we will see a significant reduction, “Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper. The president-elect implicitly acknowledged that the coronavirus could reach even more intense levels than its current alarming peak when he takes office.
Since President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) took office in the dark days of the Great Depression in 1933, the first 100 days have marked the height of power for a new American leader and often the most prolific period for victories. policies.
Biden asks to wear masks against the spread of covid-19
Like his Democratic ancestor, he will use the iconic opening moments of his mandate to summon an exhausted people to join, in a common cause, with the help of new vaccines, this time to defeat the virus and save the economy.
However, there is a question as to whether Biden’s demands for national unity will resonate with people who didn’t vote for him. More after Trump’s relentless attacks on the legitimacy of his presidential election victory. But Biden’s call to action and the use of masks may be of greater urgency now that the coronavirus is taking hold in rural heartland areas with relatively rudimentary health systems, escaping the first wave of contagion that has concentrated in many cities. Democrats tend to vote.
Biden’s interview – the first since the election that also included Harris – underscored a complete correction of Trump’s attitude towards the virus. The pandemic has never been worse than it is now in the United States. An American dies every 30 seconds amid a record number of deaths and hospitalizations. Doctors and nurses are exhausted after months in overflowing, resource-poor covid wards.
More than 276,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States. On Thursday, December 3, the country set a new record for hospital admissions: over 100,667 people being treated for covid-19.
Yet the current president is ignoring the tragedy as he pursues his fantastic lies and claims that the election he lost by a decent margin was stolen.
Trump has often scoffed at wearing masks. He is celebrating the Christmas holidays inside the White House despite health recommendations from his own government. When he returned home after his fight in the military hospital for COVID-19, he turned to the cameras and took off his mask.
On the contrary, and if past behavior is any guide, it is conceivable that one of Biden’s first acts after delivering his keynote speech in just over a month is to put on the mask.
Biden asks Fauci to remain in his current position
In another sign of a new approach to the pandemic, Biden said in the interview that he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom Trump has marginalized and insulted, to continue his current role as the nation’s leader as the nation’s leading disease specialist. contagious during the government. The president-elect announced an effective promotion for the globally respected expert.
“I asked him to remain in exactly the same position he held for past presidents, and I asked him to also be a chief medical advisor to me and be part of the covid team (response),” Biden told Tapper. The gesture implies a return to continuity and science-based policymaking after Trump’s savage presidency.
Biden pointed out that he and Fauci have talked about the fact that “there is no need to shut down the economy” if Americans adhere to other security protocols to prevent the spread of the virus. And he noted that even before speaking, Fauci spoke regularly with Ron Klain, Biden’s new government secretary, and the two formed a close working relationship during the Ebola outbreak. The president-elect also said during the interview that he would receive the vaccine publicly to show the public his confidence in it.
“When Dr. Fauci says we have a safe vaccine, that’s when I’ll go in front of the public and say it,” Biden said. People have lost faith in the vaccine’s ability to work. The numbers are already incredibly low and what the president and vice president do is important. “
Earlier this week, former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama pledged to receive the vaccine in public to help combat vaccine skepticism. Biden said his three predecessors “set the blueprint for what to do”.
Congressional aid for the covid-19 crisis
Biden called the $ 900 billion structure of a Congressional aid package proposed by a bipartisan group a “good start,” but said more help would be needed and urged members to focus on what Americans have. more need. difficulties.
What is needed immediately is relief for people on unemployment benefits; relief for people who will be kicked out of their homes after Christmas because they can no longer pay rent; exemption from mortgage payments; relief in all the things that are in the original House bill, “Biden said.” People are really hurting. They’re scared to death. “
Biden’s diametrically different covid strategy – most notably his call for Americans to wear masks in the first 100 days of his rule – has already been greeted by medical experts who watch in horror as daily covid deaths skyrocket. more than 2,500 per day. Even before the dreaded spike in infections after Thanksgiving.
“President-elect Biden, and his leadership and listening to the scientists, believe that if we all wore our masks for 100 days, we would have a significant reduction in virus transmission,” said Rick Bright, a vaccine expert who worked in the ‘administration. Trump and who resigned after warning that the Trump administration ignored warnings about the early spread of covid-19.
“Science shows that wearing a mask reduces spread. I think it would have a huge impact, “Bright told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Bright is now on Biden’s coronavirus advisory board.
California hospitals were treating 2,066 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. The figure broke the record for the highest number of covid cases since the start of the pandemic. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom warned that most regions in the state will soon cross the threshold it set for a three-week home stay order, which takes effect when ICU beds drop 15% capacity in that region.
Biden says Harris will be his right-hand man
Biden and Harris had differences on a number of issues when she ran for president, from her health care plans to her desire to see the Justice Department prosecute Trump after the current president left office. However, Harris and Biden showed their alignment with policies during the interview, which also offered some clues about the vice president’s role and portfolio.
“We are full partners in this process,” Harris said.
From day one Biden asked her to join him as a candidate, she said he was “very clear to me that he wants me to be first and last in the room” on important decisions. “Then, on any matter that concerns the American people, I will be a full partner of the president-elect and the president.”
Harris reflected Biden’s position, for example, on how the administration would handle any potential investigation into Trump’s conduct after he left office. Although it is different from the tone he used towards Trump regarding his campaign.
Biden told Tapper that his Justice Department will function independently and that he won’t tell them how or who to investigate. “I won’t say they will prosecute A, B or C, I won’t say,” Biden said. “It’s not the newspaper, it’s not my justice department. It’s the people’s justice department.
Kamala Harris’ role in the Biden government
Harris, who served as California Attorney General, echoed that call for independence from the Justice Department, drawing a clear line between the Biden administration’s approach and Trump’s.
“We won’t tell the Justice Department how to do its job. And we will assume, and I am saying that as a former California Attorney General – I headed the second largest US Department of Justice – that any decision that comes from the Department of Justice, particularly the US Department of Justice, it has to be based on facts, it should be based on law, it shouldn’t be influenced by politics, period, ”Harris told Tapper.
When Tapper asked Harris what his portfolio would be as vice president, if he would lead a task force against COVID-19, for example, as Vice President Mike Pence did, Biden interrupted to say he would answer the question. He said he planned to recruit Harris for any more pressing need at some point, just like he did with President Barack Obama as vice president.
“Whatever the most urgent need that I can’t answer, I’m confident to turn to it,” Biden said, noting that it was different from former Vice President Al Gore’s approach, which was to manage a troubled portfolio. like the environment.
“Look, I still haven’t made a single personal decision or how to proceed that I haven’t discussed with Kamala before,” Biden said.
Source link
