If Biden Wants To Exude Progress, Then SHOW Progress! Here’s How.

During World War II, it became an everyday fact of life. When the family gathered around the radio in the living room after dinner for the nightly news, the newscaster started with an update on the Allies progress on various fronts. And then the newscaster recited the official military daily update on the number of injured and killed for the day, as well as the new cumulative totals since the war began for the United States.

Likewise, it was the same in the print media. On the front page of pretty much every newspaper, usually in the lower right or left corner, there were small maps that showed the progress on various fronts, as well as the daily and cumulative death and wounded totals. It was a stark reminder, not only of the cost in human suffering of the troops, but of the families still at home. And it was honest and upfront.

Likewise, in the late 60’s as the Vietnam war went into the shitter, it became a standard part of news coverage, television, radio, and news print to give the daily death and injured totals, along with the cumulative totals. The reason was different. World War II was a necessary war, but there was no fundamental, existential reason for us to be in Vietnam, so the media used the numbers to increase public pressure to end the war.

Now, turn your attention to almost a year ago today. From the first days that the coronavirus was reported on our shores, news media coverage was almost monolithic on covering the surge in cases, hospitalizations, and eventually deaths. And as the plague worsened, and entire states shut down and ordered their citizens to stay at home and shelter in place, the coverage became almost obsessive. And why wouldn’t it, with a damn near national lockdown, there was no other news to report. And it was all depressing.

Let’s be honest. I have no beef with the mainstream media. Their job is to report the news, and for almost a full year now, the coronavirus has been the overarching news in the country. And thanks to the incredible, almost certainly criminal incompetence of the Trump administration, the effect has been to elevate the virus to that of an almost unstoppable behemoth, with no real hope in sight.

But there’s a new sheriff in town, and he has a plan. Joe Biden has made it his personal mantra to tell the American people that I will never lie to you, I will always tell you the truth. And after four long, torturous years of total, nonstop bullshit, that is what the American people need to hear. But more importantly, if Biden is going to be an effective President, they need to believe it!

Which he can easily do. Watch the media coverage. At least once an hour, there is an update to the coronavirus infection rate, hospitalization rate, and death toll. But the paradigm has changed, and nobody seems to be paying attention! As we speak, we are rapidly closing on ten million American citizens who have received coronavirus vaccine shots! Yes, it’s pathetic, and yes, Trump is a fuck up, but that’s still 10 million more people who have protection than we had 60 days ago.

Today, President Biden (GOD! I love typing that!) signed the Defense Authorization Act, mandating necessary industries in the United States to start to prioritize what we need to fight the virus, everything from PPE’s, to N95 masks, to component parts for vaccines, to swabs, to syringes. Joe Biden has made a bold claim to put 100,000,000 vaccinations in 100,000,000 arms in his first 100 days. And Johnson & Johnson has a single shot vaccine that may be approved for emergency use by the FDA as early as next month. And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the the Professor Emeritus of all things internal icky bugs, has said that it is a plausible plan.

So, here’s what needs to happen, and soonest. As we speak, the dominant news coverage of the coronavirus is still on the devastation of the virus. And That. Has. To. Change. And here’s how you do it. Starting as quickly as possible, the Biden administration has to start releasing actual, cold hard fact figures, on the number of doses on hand, the number of doses in the pipeline, and the total number of people who have been vaccinated. It’s not that hard, the Biden administration already has those! It’s time to start releasing them, on a daily basis.

Because that will be news. And as legitimate news, the mainstream media will be honor bound to report it. And that will provide an offsetting balance to all of the negative coronavirus news. As the number of vaccines available, and the numbers of Americans vaccinated continue to climb on a daily basis, and as the coronavirus death toll and hospitalization rate starts to decrease, people will finally start to believe.

Because I picked up something from the White House press briefing today, that doesn’t seen to be attracting enough attention. In response to a question, Dr. Fauci said that while hospitalizations and the death toll continue to rise, the new infection rate seems to be flattening. There is nothing surprising about this to anybody who has paid attention to the progression of the disease.

Because it takes anywhere from 8-14 days from infection for the symptoms to become acute. Hospitalizations and deaths follow. This is the 21st of January. We are now at the outside edge of the severity rate for the Christmas and New years holiday travel. And over the next two weeks, we’ll start to see a corresponding drop in hospitalizations and fatalities. And there are no more major US travel holidays on tap until Memorial day, by which time close to if not over 100 million people will have been vaccinated.

As Chris Carter, the creator of The X Files so succinctly put it, The truth is out there. And at this moment, Biden needs to get the truth out there. The sands are shifting. Holiday travel is over, with no new travel on the horizon. Spring will soon be coming, with more people congregating outside, where it is safer. And the availability of vaccines, and the number of people who get vaccinated is only gong to rise. The infection and fatality rate is only going to decline, and the vaccination rate is only going to go up. Sure, there will be speed bumps, but nothing that can’t be explained. What Biden needs to do right now is to turn his board, get into the curl, and ride the wave to shore. And the way to do that is to publicize the hell out of the vaccination numbers.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to check out President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange . They comprise a pretty much daily report from the front of the 2016 GOP primaries, as well as the general election

Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35