Post 324 - January 29, 2021
Day 324…
It is cold this morning.
Seriously cold.
Alert on my phone cold.
“Wind chills of zero to five below zero before 1pm today. (-17 to -20C) If you need to be outside, be prepared for the wind and the cold, and dress in layers, wear hats, gloves and or mittens. Frostbite can occur in a short amount of time, so dress in layers and make sure all exposed skin is protected.”
Cat refuses to leave my lap cold.
The new White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, is in the middle of her daily press briefing.
She’s not nearly as polished as her predecessor was. She says “uh” and “um” probably more often than she should. She corrects herself and apologizes when she misspeaks.
While she does occasionally step around directly answering some questions, it is clear that she knows when she’s doing it and that she’s confident that the reporters know that she knows when she’s doing it. Everybody understands that some questions can’t be answered until that answer has been figured out by the Administration. She answers reporters’ questions, at length sometimes, and then allows them to follow up with additional questions.
If she were onstage and I was charged with improving her delivery, I would encourage her to allow more colors into her speech. She is not, however, onstage. She is in the White House briefing room for the express purpose of communicating with the Press and answering their questions. She is not there to entertain them. Or us. That said, she is clearly very intelligent and completely personable.
That she isn’t repeating and supporting ridiculous lies and conspiracy theories shouldn’t come as a surprise, and, yet it does. In one short week the Press room at the White House has reverted back to what it’s been ever since I can remember - a source of basic information. It is once again a conduit between We the People and those we have chosen to lead us.
It makes the last four years watching the goings on in there seem even more horrifying. The string of extreme characters who held her position during the last Administration seem all the more over the top when compared to our current Press Secretary’s calm equanimity.
The press briefing is now over, and the White House COVID relief team has begun their own presentation. What is remarkable about their discussions is that they are allowed to continue unedited and unhindered.
Dr. Fauci just went on for at least ten minutes about mutant strains of the virus and the effect of the various vaccines that are out there against them.
It is like watching a caged animal be set free. He is just running. He’s not second-guessing himself or trying to be circumspect. He appears to just be speaking openly without fear of reprisal. He has an uncanny way of communicating extremely complex scientific ideas in a way that is utterly followable. While he knows that he is communicating with the public at large, he isn’t talking down to us. He is just presenting the facts as he believes them to be in a clear and organized way.
In essence what he is saying this morning is that, yes, the virus is mutating and yes, some of the new strains are somewhat more resistant to existing vaccines.
The new Johnson and Johnson vaccine is not as effective against preventing infection from the South African variant, but it is still quite effective at keeping those who do contract it from becoming seriously ill and or hospitalized.
The virus will continue to mutate, but the more of the population that gets vaccinated, the more difficult it will be for the virus to keep doing that. At the moment, with a majority of us not having been inoculated, the virus has an open playing field to replicate. Any of these new vaccines will start to break that up.
The variant from Brazil has now been detected in a Minneapolis resident who had recently returned from there. So, it’s here.
What can we do?
Wear a mask. Stay 6 feet apart. Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. Avoid travel. And, when we can, get vaccinated.
Questions are being asked of the health panel by reporters online and the panelists are answering them within the scope of their knowledge and expertise. At length.
What a difference a week makes. The tone of these briefings is remarkable. They are thoughtful and calm.
You can hear in the reporter’s voices that they are no longer scared that they are going to be cut off. They aren’t fighting for position with their fellow reporters knowing that only one or two carefully chosen questions are going to be allowed to be asked before everyone vanishes.
They aren’t going to be personally belittled.
Their publications aren’t going to be mocked.
In my position on a production, I am often privy to information that the cast and crew aren’t. I try and be as honest as I can with everyone, but sometimes I am just not allowed to say what I know.
There are many different reasons for this. Sometimes there is a delicate negotiation going on behind the scenes. Sometimes a problem that is happening is going to be rendered moot by an even bigger problem that is looming.
On one occasion, I had to deal with some cast members on a show who were extremely angry about the way something was being dealt with by the powers that be. They did not want what was happening to continue as the show moved forward and wanted to know what I was going to do about it. What they didn’t know was that by the end of the day it was going to be announced that the show was closing in two weeks. I wasn’t allowed to tell them before the Producers announced it. The best that I could say to them was, “I’ll see what I can do,” which was a less than satisfying response at the time.
As we get further away from the last Administration, we are seeing more and more that their avoidance of answering questions was because they were actually outright lying or had no idea what was being asked of them or quite simply weren’t doing anything at all to solve the particular problem that they were being questioned about.
This morning, while the Press Secretary and the Health Advisory panel were doing their jobs, the President and Vice-President were meeting with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin.
The problems that we are facing as a country are hopelessly intertwined. You can’t solve the economy until you solve the virus, and you can’t solve the virus until you solve the economy.
It is remarkable to me how remarkable I think it is that the President is allowing the people who work with him to do their jobs. It is clear that he sees these people as working WITH him and not, as was the case with his predecessor, as working FOR him.
Jen Psaki will be holding daily briefings. The Health panel will hold tri-weekly meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The President has yet to publicly interfere with how those around him are working. He has also yet to go golfing.
In short, the machinery of our government seems to be moving forward. We won’t all agree with what they are doing, but at least they are doing it.
The best thing of all, and we should be truly, truly grateful for this, is that the whole thing is just, gloriously, a little bit boring.
Keep warm today.
Wear a mask. Stay 6 feet apart. Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. Avoid travel. And, when you can, get vaccinated.