Lackey. Lickspittle. Toady. Sycophant.
Take your pick: when it comes to defending Joe Biden, they all fit CNN's John Harwood.
In the wake of President Biden shirking responsibility for COVID in a conference call with governors yesterday, there was Harwood on this morning's New Day downplaying and 'splaining away the president's punt on the pandemic.
Biden told the governors:
"Look, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at the state level."
Responding, CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona was surprisingly tough on Biden, saying:
"For the Biden administration, it's really inexcusable at this point to be caught flat-footed by Omicron. I mean, we already had the Delta variant this summer. The administration was slow to embrace the vaccine mandates. They declared premature independence from the virus. And Biden himself said in March that they were going to ramp up the ability to have at-home testing, and that just hasn’t happened yet. So it's a little too much – a little bit too late here for them to be actually ramping it up in time for the holiday seasons.
And this could really cost them politically. At the end of the day, voters are going to be voting on whether or not they feel like the country has returned to normal. And it just does not feel that way right now."
That's when Harwood popped up to play defensive MVP for Biden, probably doing cleanup for Biden's minders:
"I think that was a throwaway line from Biden . . . I don't think he was actually signaling it's not my job anymore, it's your job . . . So I think somewhat more has been made of that little, sort of polite beginning of the conversation than is warranted."
Yeah, to quote Harwood, it was a "throwaway line," all right. Biden threw away his responsibility for his administration's failure, and tossed it to the governors! How can it be a "throwaway" line when—just days before the 2020 election—Biden boasted: "I'm going to shut down the virus."
And now he says "there is no federal solution?" Only a Biden bitter-ender like Harwood could defend Biden's blatant cop-out.
In response, substitute host John Avlon was quick to join Team Biden: "fair point."
Later, Harwood tweeted out this (soon retweeted by White House chief of staff Ron Klain):
Biden's "this gets solved at a state level" is only a thing if you feign ignorance that:
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 28, 2021
--he was simply affirming NGA chair's plea not to stifle "state solutions"
--it's routine presidential "laboratories of democracy" talk
--he discussed federal action and "need to do better"
CNN's John Harwood making excuses was sponsored in part by Whole Foods, Ensure, and Sleep Number.
Here's the transcript.
CNN
New Day
12/28/21
6:18 am ETJOHN AVLON: In January, when he released his Covid plan initially, it included this statement, quote, for the past year, we could not turn to the federal government for a national plan to answer prayers with action until today. Strong declaration. But I want you to contrast this with what he said yesterday. Take a listen.
JOE BIDEN: Look, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level. I’m looking at Governor Sununu on the board here. He talks about that a lot. And it ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, and that's where the patient is in need of help, or preventing the need for help.
AVLON: Is this a flip-flop, or is this him rediscovering the beauty of federalism, because that's actually where problems get solved?
MELANIE ZANONA: For the Biden administration, it's really inexcusable at this point to be caught flat-flooted flatted by omicron. I mean, we already had the delta variant this summer. The administration was slow to embrace the vaccine mandates. They declared premature independence from the virus. And Biden himself said in March that they were going to ramp up the ability to have at-home testing, and that just hasn’t happened yet. So it's a little too much – a little bit too late here for them to be actually ramping it up in time for the holiday seasons.
And this could really cost them politically. At the end of the day, voters are going to be voting on whe. And it just does not feel that way right now.
JOHN HARWOOD: Hey, John, if I could just add on that one point. I think that was throwaway line from Biden. I think Biden was beginning a call from governors, as Jeff Zients was saying, they've had 40 of these calls, and the reason is that there is an interaction between the federal government and state governments. And I think that presidents always make reference to the fact that states have a lot of authority, and we need to work this cooperation.
I don’t think that he was actually signaling like, oh, okay, it's not my job anymore, it's your job. Because he went on to outline the things that he was trying to do to catch up to the testing problem, and acknowledging, as we’ve just been talking about, that we need to do better.
But I think somewhat more has been made of that, of that, little sort of polite beginning of the conversation than is warranted.
AVLON: Fair point.
