[Genuine Realist]

In case anyone is unaware, DeWine is a Republican being impeached by the further right element of his own party who believe their civil rights were violated by the Governor's Stay-at-Home order and subsequent mask requirement.  The articles of impeachment are amusing in a black comedy sort of way.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/08/a...rders.html

Ohio House conservatives move to impeach Gov. DeWine

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohi...UIY3ESMXI/

The Ohio conservatives ran off the state health director because they that she was too tough.  Ohio's early successes have faded since DeWine lost Acton.  Not being satisfied with running off Acton, conservatives are now going after their own governor.  And the supporters of these hard right legislators are the type of people Trump has to cater to in his flailing attempt to win re-election.

Is it bad if I fantasize that the virus had run a 30% fatality rate in just one state that starts and ends with an O?

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 I have no doubt that HRC would have done better. For all of her faults she does know how the government bureaucracy functions and she is not anti-science. We would have had the same red-state blue-state fracas, but at least the federal response would have been more coherent.

I have always thought that HRC would have been a different type of Awful President - a female Nixon in training. By 2019, she would likely have drawn up the battlements Nixon-style against a legion of critics. What she would have done is anybody's guess.

Obama? Despite the wonderful speaking voice and leadership presence, Barack Obama was (and is) a passive personality. CEB veterans will remember the pejorative nickname I pinned on him after his complete and incompetent failure to seize the opportunity for real reform that the financial crisis presented. He always went with the strongest voice in the room. So he'd follow the lead of the experts, which in the case of Covid is probably a good thing. 

All that said, it is hard to imagine anyone doing worse than Trump since March 10th. (Those of you who want to blame him for lacking a clairvoyance in January-February that no one in the Western world possessed can continue to do so.) All you really have to do is reassure the public that you're doing your best, and to have confidence in the energy and effort of conscientious and well-trained medical scientists . . .  and he couldn't even do that. He managed to enmesh the whole public dialog in his own sense of confrontation. A disaster.

[Genuine Realist]

In case anyone is unaware, DeWine is a Republican being impeached by the further right element of his own party who believe their civil rights were violated by the Governor's Stay-at-Home order and subsequent mask requirement.  The articles of impeachment are amusing in a black comedy sort of way.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/08/a...rders.html

Ohio House conservatives move to impeach Gov. DeWine

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohi...UIY3ESMXI/

The Ohio conservatives ran off the state health director because they that she was too tough.  Ohio's early successes have faded since DeWine lost Acton.  Not being satisfied with running off Acton, conservatives are now going after their own governor.  And the supporters of these hard right legislators are the type of people Trump has to cater to in his flailing attempt to win re-election.

Is it bad if I fantasize that the virus had run a 30% fatality rate in just one state that starts and ends with an O?

---

 I have no doubt that HRC would have done better. For all of her faults she does know how the government bureaucracy functions and she is not anti-science. We would have had the same red-state blue-state fracas, but at least the federal response would have been more coherent.

I have always thought that HRC would have been a different type of Awful President - a female Nixon in training. By 2019, she would likely have drawn up the battlements Nixon-style against a legion of critics. What she would have done is anybody's guess.

Obama? Despite the wonderful speaking voice and leadership presence, Barack Obama was (and is) a passive personality. CEB veterans will remember the pejorative nickname I pinned on him after his complete and incompetent failure to seize the opportunity for real reform that the financial crisis presented. He always went with the strongest voice in the room. So he'd follow the lead of the experts, which in the case of Covid is probably a good thing. 

All that said, it is hard to imagine anyone doing worse than Trump since March 10th. (Those of you who want to blame him for lacking a clairvoyance in January-February that no one in the Western world possessed can continue to do so.) All you really have to do is reassure the public that you're doing your best, and to have confidence in the energy and effort of conscientious and well-trained medical scientists . . .  and he couldn't even do that. He managed to enmesh the whole public dialog in his own sense of confrontation. A disaster.