Wish We’d Thought Of It
Last week, President Biden announced that the federal government would order 500 million “at-home COVID test kits” for free distribution to Americans. In an interview with ABC shortly after, he said he wished he had thought about doing it two months before.
POLITICO—no friend to the political right—found that response strange (their word). POLITICO then listed all the times since he’s been president…less than a year…that Biden talked about getting testing kits:
Two days into his term, a promised a “war footing” to speed up more tests, while a month later he introduced actions designed to expand tests and improve availability of tests. On March 11, the president said, “We continue to work on making at-home testing available.” That was followed by a July promise to “deploy things like testing”.
In a major September speech, Biden promised to use the Defense Production Act to increase production of tests, including those to be used at home…ensure that retailers would have plenty for sale by year’s end…and specifically talked about the government buying 300 million at-home tests to give to citizens for free.
So as POLITICO notes, while Biden told ABC he wished he had thought of getting 500 million tests two months ago…in reality he had promised 300 million three months ago. Technically, I supposed there’s a difference…but it’s one without distinction.
They note other times…and note that the White House press secretary earlier this month mocked a questioner on the topic by saying, “Should we just send one to every American?” Turns out, that’s just what her boss said would be done, less than three weeks after she snidely dismissed the concept.
Keep in mind, the administration has not actually ordered the tests, and there’s no way for any of us to get them. We don’t know how or when that will happen. And since manufacturers say they already are producing them as fast as they can…it’s hard to see how the plan—any of the various promises or plans made this year—will be enacted.
You know it’s bad when an outlet typically friendly to your cause notes all this. And it’s not even the end of year one of the presidency.
