For a solid year, Democrats and the media hit the Trump administration for not having a national plan to address Covid, when, in truth, the administration simply realized that there was no way possible — logistically or in terms of local knowledge, among other things — for the federal government to supplant the public-health role of the states.
But here was Ron Klain:
In March — March — I went on @allinwithchris and said that the central flaw of Trump’s emerging Covid response was that he was confronting a national crisis with an “Articles of Confederation” response. Still true nine months later. https://t.co/QfBB423Evl
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) December 30, 2020
And Biden himself:
To beat COVID-19, we need a coordinated national response from the federal government — but Donald Trump refuses to do his job. I’ve laid out exactly what I would do, and I encourage this president to adopt the plan in its entirety: https://t.co/SOVOPL7uPy
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 7, 2020
Now that Biden is in the White House as cases rapidly increase again, he’s downplaying what the feds can do and talking about the centrality of the states:
Joe Biden, who ran for President on the promise of ending the COVID-19 pandemic: “There is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level.” pic.twitter.com/QE82SXBO49
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 27, 2021
He’s right about that, of course; it just runs counter to one of the most constant and vociferous lines of attack against his predecessor.