Jim is absolutely correct that the Biden administration did not have to read anyone’s mind to see the baby-formula shortage coming. As he points out, there were news reports for months before now.
Jim wonders whether the mind-reader spin is an organized effort by the White House or Biden talking off the cuff. It seems to be the latter. Just two days ago, on a background call with reporters, a senior administration official said:
I can assure you that this is not new to the White House’s radar. We have been working on this issue since the very beginning, in the days leading up to the recall and ever since then.
So, you know, since mid-February, we have been working closely with USDA and FDA on a suite of actions that they have taken, which is why we are able to say today that production today is — you know, exceeds production in the period just before the recall was — the recall was initiated. [emphasis added]
As I pointed out in my piece yesterday, this timeline seems odd because there was no mention of baby formula at all in any White House document available online between the Abbott recall in February and May 9. And even if it is true, whatever the administration tried to do clearly didn’t work. The shortage is here.
But just as a matter of messaging, the senior administration official said that the White House saw this shortage coming and was working to stop it. The president implied that only a mind reader could have known that.
If the administration has mind-readers on staff, they really shouldn’t be caught by surprise as often as they are.