Biden's vaccine mandate is terrific public policy

Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
Biden's vaccine mandate is terrific public policy; it is, more or less literally, what the doctor ordered. Is it good politics? We don't know. But one thing worth noting is the contrast with Obama

It's now clear that Republicans effectively sabotaged Obama's economy, slowing the recovery, by imposing fiscal austerity (using completely false claims that they were worried about debt.) And Obama was basically passive, even accepting their premises

Rs are now sabotaging Biden by undermining the fight against Covid; how self-conscious they are about this is something we can argue, but that's how it's working out. And having blocked basic public health measures, they're all set to blame Biden for Covid's persistence

But Biden is fighting back. He's using executive authority to save lives, and basically daring Rs to put themselves on the side of the minority trying to ruin life for the rest of us

Again, he's doing the right thing regardless of the politics. But he may also have chosen favorable ground for a big political fight

Everybody knows what Krugman would be saying about Trump if he were still in the White House and imposing mandates like these.


Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
It's really hard to write about the GOP's handling of Trump without violating Godwin's Law. I mean, right-wingers backing an authoritarian because they thought he could be controlled and serve their economic agenda, then discovering the awful truth