I am so tired of never ending graphs of suffering. I am tuning out more each day. But I am highly intrigued by the politics of COVID-19, particularly in a presidential election year.
Monday, Joe Biden, likely the Democratic nominee to run against President Donald Trump, called him to chat. This was a play right out of The West Wing playbook. With the Democratic primaries all but over, Biden has been pushed off the screens of America. Trump’s approval ratings have been going up by the day as he holds 2-hour “news” briefings, answering almost every question from reporters who he usually dismisses with scowls and sarcasm. He defers to VP Mike Pence, Dr. Deborah Birx, and the 4-star general handling logistics. He is generally holding his egotism in check and acting like a leader who is in command, and the role becomes him.
Biden’s aides must be tearing their hair out as they see their guy look like the janitor waiting to clean the room when the CEO finishes the meeting.
Equally worrisome for Biden is the blossoming of Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, who does his briefings in the mornings. Cuomo comes off as a capable, self-effacing, CEO handling the complex needs of New York City, often in a growing partnership with President Trump and the military. His stage presence and command of details set him up, at least to me, as the Democrat’s logical Presidential nominee, though he did not enter any primaries.
I am sure the rise of Cuomo, with his rapport with the media which is so New York centric, has to make Joe Biden and his associates very shaky. Perhaps Trump’s growing respect for Cuomo is pushing an interesting triangle into the presidential election. Biden not only has the Bernie Sanders wing of the democratic party to contend with. Now he has the unexpected rising star of Andrew Cuomo.
Am I crazy to imagine that a Democratic convention in which not enough primaries have been held to give Biden the easy nomination, punts on round one of the voting and a groundswell of support from right, left, and center in the party, hungry for a winner, begins a Cuomo for President snowball at the Milwaukee convention?
Joe Biden has no passion in his campaign. He has become the front runner almost by default. If Cuomo appears to guide New York through its COVID-19 crisis and continues to look like the president of a besieged state and region, Joe Biden ought to be plenty scared.
Question: Have you tuned out the daily COVID-19 news?
7 Comments
I would feel irresponsible to my community and my family if I tuned out the virus news completely. I do ignore a lot of the repetitive stuff, but watch for latest recommendations from reliable sources and with the cases locally. We are fortunate to have had very few cases and only a handful of deaths here, thanks to being in a small town in a state that took early measures to prevent spread of the virus. I hope you and your family will get through this situation safely, and that tests, cures, and vaccines will be coming soon.
Hello: Last weekend, I did not watch any news. I am continung the “trend”. I am located in Central Florida and a medical device manufacturer/distributor. My business is suffering; our Florida hospitals are maybe 40% capacity according to two of our Governor’s news conferences. I already knew our local hospitals were empty from lack of blood pressure cuff sales. I am overwhelmed with the amount of emails I am receiving about Covid. I read National Institute of Health and anything the FDA sends so even though I am not listening to the media, I am staying well-informed. My biggest pet peeve: Network, local TV channels constantly running the ticker across the bottom of the screen delivering bad news. We have one local channel, our CBS affliate, Channel 6, who thankfully, is not doing it.
The whole virus issue has loomed so large in the political realm. I am tired of all the doom and gloom and much of the “media” mis-characterizing Trump’s hopeful talk as promises. I have been afraid of Cuomo as a rising star but am still hopeful that the economy gets back to work soon. We are considered “essential” because of the products we make but even so without getting new customers our book of business will go downhill. The real question is does the “cure” hurt more than the “disease”.
We are working on only “Essential” business which has our ears pinned to the walls and on top of that I took on donating custom machined tooling for N95 masks for a University of Illinois/Maker community project. That and face shields up to 3500 units for local hospitals which are empty, all of them. This panic and fear has destroyed a perfectly fine economy and I’ve had to lay off have of my employees who are now worried about losing their homes, their cars and being on the streets with their children. There have been suicides which were senseless and murders in our small town all related to mental health issues over the fear of Covid. They didn’t have the virus, they feared they would. Nonsense and horrible to see innocent people now dead which would never have occurred. So sad. While our company is at have speed we are so busy making products for hand sanitizer filling lines and all other essentials yet millions are losing their businesses and homes and obviously their jobs and incomes. I stand as a spectator watching this. Praying for all.
I am so very tried of the Doom & Gloom Media and have been for a long time. Especially the NY times & Wash. post-2 of the worst along with numerous other TV news outlets. I try to be optimistic like our President but fear the next 2 weeks will be deadly for us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/nyregion/new-york-coronavirus-response-delays.html?smid=em-share
Please cut and paste the link concerning the Governor Andrew Cuomo.
My wife and I watch the morning local news, and then the NBC Nightly news.
Narrowed it down as it gets to be “too much”.
We also tape and watch our Governor Cuomo’s news conferences.
Whether you like him personally, or are a democrat or Republican; he has taken and shown great leadership qualities. Maybe a run in 2024, not not now.
I have to totally disagree with your following comment:
He (Trump) is generally holding his egotism in check and acting like a leader who is in command, and the role becomes him.
Not sure what TV you’re watching, certainly isn’t the same version I’m seeing, reading and hearing. As they say, “A Tiger never changes its stripes.”
Let’s hope we all get through this incredibly difficult period sooner than later.
Best Health and Safety to everyone.