Minor Edits

 

March 11, 2021 was the one-year anniversary of the date when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

I woke up, bleary-eyed, to the news.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the US  Senate, had made the following statement.

For weeks, every indicator has suggested our economy poised to come roaring back, with more job openings for Americans who need work. None of these trends began on Jan. 20. President Biden and his Democratic government inherited a tide that had already begun to turn toward decisive victory,”

“In 2020, Congress passed five historic bipartisan bills to save our health system, protect our economic foundations, and fund Operation Warp Speed to find vaccines. Senate Republicans led the bipartisan CARES Act that got our country through the last year.”        Mitch McConnell, quoted on a  Fox News site.

The statement on its face seems pretty irrefutable.

So many unsung heroes have been trying to fight this virus and reverse its economic effects all year.  So many politicians, Republican and Democrat, have cast their votes to help those in need.  The programs, that Democrats neglect to give Republicans credit for, helped prevent worse outcomes from happening.

Offended by the Democrats taking a victory lap, McConnell seems to imply that Republicans should get the bulk of the credit.  They got the ball rolling, after all.

But McConnell mentioned only those things that reflected positively on the past administration and those loyalists in its orbit.  Without mentioning how, over the past year, these very same heroes  stood in their own way, and prevented the nation from getting here sooner.

That time wasted has cost us lives.

There’s plenty of praise and blame to go around.  But I agree with McConnell.  We should look at the full, un-edited record, before we assign credit.

Thanks for coming by to read and sorry, that politics crept in yet again!

 

 

Remember, remember,

A year in the making,

A year, full of faking

And farcical jeers;

 

Remember, remember,

The strutting and booing,

The pompous poo-pooing

That got us all here;

 

Look at the ball

That you all set in motion.

With unproven potions,

De minimus rants.

 

Look at poor Sisyphus,

Pushing it up:

Overnight, it falls back

To the bottom, again.

 

Remember, remember,

Court jesters, court-tasters,

The babbling time-wasters,

Publicity stunts;

 

Remember, remember,

The speakers of truth,

The victims of ruthless

Blows, insults, and grunts.

 

Now, now, that it’s over,

This yearful of turmoil,

Of protests and snake oil,

Alternative facts,

 

Don’t give me this earful:

You should take the credit?

All year, you’ve been editing

Us.

With an axe.

 

Copyright 2021 Andrea LeDew

 

For another glimpse at history that is a mix of blame and hero-worship, read Statues.

For another example of creative license, see Artist’s Statement.