Crane's Corner: 6-15-21 Did Gavin Get it Right?

Crane's Corner

When CoVid 19 hit California in March of 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom wasted little time in making the people he governs crazy. Using the state's Emergency Powers, the ones reserved for say a Tsunami that slammed into Los Angeles or ISIS thugs taking over Disneyland or even the next giant quake, the slick looking, confident liberal leader became the Lord and Master of 40 million constituents. Suddenly we were ordered to stay home, avoid non-family members, wash our hands till they were raw, and wear face coverings in public. He told us we couldn’t go to the beach, or church, Disneyland closed as did most bars and restaurants, wineries, breweries, barber shops and nail salons. For what seemed like forever.

Ignoring most anyone but his team of advisors and medical experts, Newsom held the line on shutdowns, guided by color coated charts that allowed counties to embarrass each other, or cross the county line for a haircut, a cold beer or a mani-pedi. The infections and deaths came in vast waves. Some of the protocols made sense, a lot of them made us scratch our heads. With no day to day business, many successful businesses failed. We got shaggy, we got depressed. Some drank and partied to the detriment of their health. Finding basics like toilet tissue and hand sanitizers became a challenge. But in California, we grumbled but knew it was very much the same in other parts of the country, until it wasn’t. The jobless rate soared, crime followed. The George Floyd murder and the rise of BLM made life more unsettling. Covid’s China origin...whether it came from a bat or a sloppy scientist, fueled a disturbing rage against Asian Americans. President Trump’s handling of the crisis probably cost him his job, Gavin Newsom’s CoVid management style fueled an expensive recall process, though he’ll probably survive it.

Now take off your mask and reflect for a moment on the Governor and The President. Depending on your political leanings, you probably harbor strong feelings against one or the other. As California and the country reopen and we all catch our breath to figure out what the hell happened over the past 450 day -the view here is that Gavin grudgingly got it right, but couldn’t have done it without Trump. The President half a nation despised did what he promised. He got a vaccine in months, not years...now, I can’t say for sure what the vaccine might do to any of us down the road, but it pretty much neutralized covid and it’s collateral damage. And guess what. Newsom's dictator act got it done.

Look at the numbers. Yes, 62 thousand Californians died of CoVid under his watch---but with 40 million people in the Golden State...the per capita death rate...of 160 per 100 thousand was lower than 27 states--including the ones that opened up early like Florida---Georgia and Texas. California’s economy survived the pandemic in much better shape than all but a few states. Sure we still have high unemployment, but most of the jobs lost--in restaurants and hospitality accounted for less than 1 percent of California’s GDP. The state's big industries...healthcare...technology agriculture----were all essential to the treatment and ongoing defeat of CoVid 19. Because of taxes paid by California’s significant tier of millionaires, Newsom has a surplus, which is why he’s throwing money at every special interest group and union and awarding big lottery cash to people who simply rolled up their sleeves to get a shot that may have saved their lives and surely made them better.

I hate it when the facts get in the way of a good journalistic beat down, but the more you look at what Newsom did, thanks to Trump and the miracle workers who came up with the vaccine, and billions from Aunt Nancy and her pals in congress, California handled COVID better than all of the big states and many of the smaller ones. More... find the rest of the story at www.edcranescorner.com/blog-page/