Is That Hope I Feel?
Three reasons to be optimistic about a Biden Administration
We’re back! And what a time to be back. Joe Biden is President of the United States and there are several reasons to be optimistic about what his administration can achieve.
First, the Biden Administration can help end the COVID-19 crisis. The disease has now, as the President noted in his excellent first inaugural address, killed more Americans than died in WWII, a truly horrible milestone. It also laid out your humble writer for about 10 days in December and killed two of my extended family members, so I can say with authority that I do not recommend getting this disease!
Biden can end the COVID crisis mostly by speeding up vaccination efforts and sweating the details. His plan includes vaccinating 100 million people in 100 days, which honestly, isn’t ambitious enough. He’s pledged to help states that need help with staffing, distribution, and promised to do everything from ramp up production of raw materials to ensuring there are enough low-dead space syringes to squeeze extra doses out of the existing Pfizer and Moderna vaccine vials already in existence.
Second, Biden seems to sincerely, genuinely want to unite a badly fractured country, and some Republicans seem to maybe want to go along. Newly minted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s most recent comments that directly blame former President Trump for inciting an insurrectionist mob to attack the Capitol on January 6th as well as his rumored support for convicting Trump on his most recent impeachment may signal a final, long-overdue push by the institutional GOP to purge the most hardcore factions of Trump’s base from their party. Being McConnell, it could all be a ploy, a lie, or a short-lived trial balloon, but to me it’s real hope. McConnell may feel that even if it hurts the party in the very short-run to reduce its numbers by expelling Trump dead-enders, it may be better in the long-run to have a GOP worth voting for in 2022 when he surely hopes to retake the 50/50 divided Senate.
Lastly, economically Biden is actually in a good place…which for the country is a bad place. COVID has wreaked havoc on the economy despite the government’s intermittent efforts to spend our way toward recovery, but perversely what’s bad for everyday people can be good for Biden here. He starts low baseline, meaning there is lots of room to improve. While stocks have more than rebounded from COVID-induced lows in March, many Americans are still on thin ice financially due to job losses, illnesses, and compounding past-due bills. With interest rates low, a Fed that seems willing and able to help, and a fully Democratically-controlled federal government in Washington, Biden should have enough ammunition to blast any emerging deficit hawks with cash cannons.
On top of those economic tools, the first reason I’m optimistic (defeating COVID) feeds into my economic optimism, because nothing will cure what ails the U.S. economy like crushing COVID. Emergency spending to prop up households and business is effective and needed, but ending the pandemic and getting back to business will also work wonders. Because Biden has committed his administration to taking the pandemic seriously and ending it as quickly as possible, he has simultaneously also committed to mending the economy as quickly as possible as well.
Which is good news for everyone.