President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I have no doubt that it has been mismanaged and that there really is no plan to speak of, at least beyond something simplistic.

At the same time, it's in the self interest of the new people to put out a story like this anonymously to give themselves some cover. So people should keep that in mind.

It's going to be way too easy to point to the shittiness and incompetence of what was in there for the last 4 years. At a certain point -- and I am not saying that point is yet -- the buck has to stop with you. You wanted to be in charge, now just do it. For me. ... they get a handful of stories like this, then they need to just move on. Getting vaccines to people should be the only thing they are focused on. Nobody has the ability to privately go to Pfizer or Moderna to try to do it on their own. Our government put itself in charge of this. If it can't do the job, blaming it on the last guy who did a shitty job isn't any consolation.

 

I'm more confident than I was, but not necessarily because I think they are going to do the most efficient or cost-effective job possible. I expect them to be way more competent. ... and that is about it.

The bar was set so inexplicably low -- you had to be beyond incompetent to have done as poorly as the last administration did -- that things can only get done better moving forward.

What I know is going to bug me is how they will now use those low expectations to overstate the job they likely end up doing. For example, that 100 million doses in 100 days thing sounds so grand to a lot of people. ... but how much of an accomplishment is that really? Pfizer and Moderna have been manufacturing enough doses for us to do hundreds of millions doses in that time. Logisitically, I know it is difficult getting it from there to people's arms, but if they want the pats on the back, they shouldn't just do what any private logistics operation could have done with one hand tied behind its back.

The reality is this: They set expectations low with something that sounds grand to a lot of people because the group of clowns in there for the last year did a ridiculously poor job. ... and when they likely exceed their low-bar promises they will take a lot of bows.