Good afternoon,
President Joe Biden may take some heat after the Associated Press reported that he is heading back to Delaware this weekend.
After all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pretty blunt in not recommending travel. Many of us stayed close to home since late March as the coronavirus crisis took hold.
Conventional wisdom had the president hunkering down in D.C. until the period around Easter.
The White House, while confirming the trip, did not initially respond to a request for further comment.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki later defended the trip, noting that Air Force One is a private plane
Presidents, for better or worse, are role models with supporters who follow their lead.
Granted, Biden is grappling with a host of complicated issues related to the pandemic and the past administration. One of those issues involves vaccinations.
Despite taking heat during the painful task of building a system capable of mass vaccinations, the government in his home state of Delaware did not make enough headway this week. Doses remain limited, to put it mildly.
More vaccines are on the way, but it may not come soon enough as we brace for faster spreading variants of the virus.
We got a glimpse today of the pandemic unemployment picture Biden faces, with the nation reporting a 6.3 percent jobless figure.
Delaware’s jobless stats (to be posted later this month) is likely to be somewhat lower than the national number.
Still, the 6.3 percent does not fully reflect the loss of jobs in every category over the past year and a “gig economy” that does not count food delivery and ride-share jobs.
Many supporters will give Biden a pass, given the job’s stresses and the need to clear one’s head in getting out of the Beltway bubble.
The media seemed to be in a similar mood.
Delaware will also get a bit of an economic boost thanks to travel by the media and others accompanying the president.
Enjoy your weekend. This newsletter returns on Monday. Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
