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I want to apologize for getting the messaging wrong on this pandemic from the very start.
We politicized this virus and blamed President Trump for it, and we should not have done that. We disrupted and mocked all of his efforts to combat the virus from the start, and we should not have done that. We repeated and amplified every mistake he ever made while admitting NONE of our own, and there have been many. And lastly, we have blamed and mocked the victims of this virus based on political ideology. We never should have done that. This virus and all of the pain and loss it has caused is not the fault of Donald Trump or myself or the American people.
We declared ourselves to be experts who could not be questioned even when very little was known, by arrogantly calling our own opinions “the science”. Our experts have changed their mind on almost every major development in this pandemic. But even when we were found to be wrong, we suppressed any who disagreed or offered alternate opinions about the current theories. Through government, and through social media, we controlled what could be said, and what could not be said. We should not have done that.
We set in motion the politicization of the fight against this virus and turned the American people against each other. We stretched and distorted the process of science and turned it into a political weapon to use against our fellow Americans. We should not have done that. We have lied when it suited us, and suppressed information that we did not want to be known. Any American would be completely justified in being skeptical about our motives, the science and the government right now.
If we had not made this such a political debate, perhaps we would be having more productive discussions about what to do now. We could have had real dialogue, discovery and understanding. Instead, we have division, suspicion and blame. We have bullied and berated those who fail to obey our decisions, instead of realizing they have valid reasons that shouldn’t just be disregarded or run over.
Right now both sides are arguing from the extremes, and neither side is entirely in the right. The truth is the vaccines are good, but not perfect. They make the illness less bad, but they don’t eliminate it. Masks might work sometimes, but people have become silly about them, and few people use them correctly. Doubters see this, and some don’t wish to play the game. The arguments for and against lack any insight or nuance into these realities, painting all unvaccinated persons or those who don’t want to wear a mask as ignorant and uncaring… not even deserving of their own differing opinion.
We apologize for blaming and talking down to you like you are disobedient children, instead of free-thinking adults. We have caused far more problems than we have solved by turning all of us on each other during this critical time.
All of life involves evaluating our choices and risks. It has never been more vital that everyone have access to information and the freedom to make our own choices. Going forward, we need to learn how to fight this virus without fighting each other. We need to recognize there are no guarantees and there is no right to mandate how everyone must live.
Because this is America. The land of the free... And we were wrong to forget that.
I'll keep working on it 'til I get him to agree!
democrats would never tell the truth or take the blame for anything. the only thing they are good at is blaming EVERYONE for EVERYTHING and not being responsable for anything at all.
You guys don’t realize…it was your side’s brand of zero-sum politics that brought things to this point. Everything from impeaching Bill Clinton over an affair to Mitch McConnell promising to make Obama a one-term president…well, because. Then all the underhanded skullduggery, the unprincipled gamesmanship, making up the rules as they went along, like when they didn’t even allow the president to nominate a Supreme Court Justice because it was the last year of his presidency, but it was fine when Trump did it.
Every time people on the Democrat side of the aisle tried to work with the Republicans, they got burned, especially as more moderate reps and senators got primaries by Tea Party absolutists who promised their constituents they would never cooperate with Democrats. Then there was Trump. I don’t think any of you realize the damage Trump did to American democracy by constantly demonizing the political party that more or less represents the values of half the country. You cheered when he talked of imprisoning the Democrats presidential candidate, you jeered when he called the media enemies of the people, you agreed when he balked at the notion that COVID might be serious and nodded when he called it a Democrat hoax. You let white supremicists have a lace in your party, gave Q Anon millions of soldiers who accused Democrats AND their supporters of being pedophiles and child murderers. You wanted liberal tears, you wanted to own the libs, you wanted to laugh when they cried and wear t-shirts that told them what to do with their feelings.
So now you want to say Biden is a big mean bully who was mean to Trump? You want him to apologize to you when you call him senile, mock and ridicule every decision he makes? This was the game you wanted to play and now your side is taking a turn in the hurt locker. Doesn’t feel very good, does it? And yet what is this anger really about? Because The majority of the country is sick and tired of a pandemic that is now largely being fueled by people whose decision to not vaccinate is primarily a partisan political posture. Biden is not going to ever make a speech like that because Democrats have finally woken up to the game your side has been playing since Nixon. It is a ruthless, zero-sum, winner-takes-all, no holds barred approach to politics and the Republicans perfected it during the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. The Democrats always fought back with one arm tied behind their backs because their voters were so broad and diverse in their views. They largely wanted to believe that the Machiavellian machinations of guys like Atwater, Rupert Murdoch, Dick Cheney, Roger Stone, Donald Rumsfeld and on and on could be avoided, but every time their party took the high road they lost.
So here you are. You expect apologies but you are not going to get any. Unless, of course, you’re willing to also apologize and demand more from your leaders. But you aren’t because you think your leaders are right and Democrats are wrong. It’s sad to see this happen to the country I grew up admiring and loving because, despite where I was born and raised, myself and my entire family were Americans who loved the principles America was supposed to stand for, even when it failed to uphold those principles and sometimes actively suppressed democracy. We forgave because we always believed America was good at heart. It is painful to see where you are now, and the fact that I find myself saying “you” instead of “we” and continually putting off getting my passport renewed or making the move south that I’ve thought about for years.
As long as one side believes it is the fault of the other that America isn’t what they want it to be, this great nation will always be in decline. Don’t write speeches for Joe Biden. Write them for your own party and ask yourselves what you can do to heal this rift before it tears the nation apart.
Nah, I think you should risk your health to own the libs. It's been working well so far.
No, you've got that jacked all up.
It's more like, I WILL NOT risk my health because a bunch of sniveling would-be-Hitler liberals tell me I have to. And that choice is made because it is MY choice. Has nothing to do with "owning" anything besides my own body.
You guys don’t realize…it was your side’s brand of zero-sum politics that brought things to this point. Everything from impeaching Bill Clinton over an affair to Mitch McConnell promising to make Obama a one-term president…well, because. Then all the underhanded skullduggery, the unprincipled gamesmanship, making up the rules as they went along, like when they didn’t even allow the president to nominate a Supreme Court Justice because it was the last year of his presidency, but it was fine when Trump did it.
Every time people on the Democrat side of the aisle tried to work with the Republicans, they got burned, especially as more moderate reps and senators got primaries by Tea Party absolutists who promised their constituents they would never cooperate with Democrats. Then there was Trump. I don’t think any of you realize the damage Trump did to American democracy by constantly demonizing the political party that more or less represents the values of half the country. You cheered when he talked of imprisoning the Democrats presidential candidate, you jeered when he called the media enemies of the people, you agreed when he balked at the notion that COVID might be serious and nodded when he called it a Democrat hoax. You let white supremicists have a lace in your party, gave Q Anon millions of soldiers who accused Democrats AND their supporters of being pedophiles and child murderers. You wanted liberal tears, you wanted to own the libs, you wanted to laugh when they cried and wear t-shirts that told them what to do with their feelings.
So now you want to say Biden is a big mean bully who was mean to Trump? You want him to apologize to you when you call him senile, mock and ridicule every decision he makes? This was the game you wanted to play and now your side is taking a turn in the hurt locker. Doesn’t feel very good, does it? And yet what is this anger really about? Because The majority of the country is sick and tired of a pandemic that is now largely being fueled by people whose decision to not vaccinate is primarily a partisan political posture. Biden is not going to ever make a speech like that because Democrats have finally woken up to the game your side has been playing since Nixon. It is a ruthless, zero-sum, winner-takes-all, no holds barred approach to politics and the Republicans perfected it during the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. The Democrats always fought back with one arm tied behind their backs because their voters were so broad and diverse in their views. They largely wanted to believe that the Machiavellian machinations of guys like Atwater, Rupert Murdoch, Dick Cheney, Roger Stone, Donald Rumsfeld and on and on could be avoided, but every time their party took the high road they lost.
So here you are. You expect apologies but you are not going to get any. Unless, of course, you’re willing to also apologize and demand more from your leaders. But you aren’t because you think your leaders are right and Democrats are wrong. It’s sad to see this happen to the country I grew up admiring and loving because, despite where I was born and raised, myself and my entire family were Americans who loved the principles America was supposed to stand for, even when it failed to uphold those principles and sometimes actively suppressed democracy. We forgave because we always believed America was good at heart. It is painful to see where you are now, and the fact that I find myself saying “you” instead of “we” and continually putting off getting my passport renewed or making the move south that I’ve thought about for years.
As long as one side believes it is the fault of the other that America isn’t what they want it to be, this great nation will always be in decline. Don’t write speeches for Joe Biden. Write them for your own party and ask yourselves what you can do to heal this rift before it tears the nation apart.
This is a really long winded reply and I would love to go back and forth with you about the trouble with politics and ideas for better governance.... but can you pick one topic to start with?
I'm not going to write a whole book responding to every point in this. We needed a drink of water and this is a fire hose.
What in all this is the most interesting to you? Anything related to COVID policy?
OP, I fully agree on your well written speech. As of now, we are, in far more ways than the virus, an extremely divided nation.
In addition, though, Biden came across yesterday 100% condescending and that needs to stop.
The DNC is bent on suppressing dissent, instead of seeking common ground. Huge mistake.
And your bolded is what irked me, and has been irking me all along about the dialogue. There's no attempt to reason or discuss rationally, only mocking and threats.... He's losing is patience with us!
We have become a pesky annoyance to him.... to *them*, we are just in the way, not people who he needs to try to convince. That's what got me started thinking "well, what could he say that would actually help at this point?" The environment is so toxic, how do we undo that and step back and start over speaking with respect?
This is a really long winded reply and I would love to go back and forth with you about the trouble with politics and ideas for better governance.... but can you pick one topic to start with?
I'm not going to write a whole book responding to every point in this. We needed a drink of water and this is a fire hose.
What in all this is the most interesting to you? Anything related to COVID policy?
I liked that the speech ended . Three things were central: keep spreading the lies started by 45. Keep thinking wealth before health . And lastly....an apology for moving us thru this as some stomped , moaned and demanded ME before US .
I stand united. period.
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