The coronavirus is no hoax. Nor is it political. It cares not whether it strikes in red states or blue or in the White House.
That is clear now.
As I write this for a Friday afternoon deadline, it is not clear what else it will do to the president, to the presidential campaign, to the Nov. 3 vote, to the nation.
I planned writing about the first presidential debate, about what polls show of voter perceptions of which candidate won. Then the virus won.
Now, the health of President Trump is more important in looking ahead than is looking back on whether his solid base was affected by that debate.
One would hope that even the most anti-Trump partisans, while still wanting him to have no chance for reelection, will wish him well for recovery.
Yes, they can point to his scoffing at mask-wearing and debate criticism of Joe Biden for so often appearing masked. They can cite his contentions that the coronavirus is behind us. They will as the campaign resumes. But it is more important now to look at what all this means for the future, for efforts to combat pandemic spread and to meet challenges for the nation amid crises of health, economy and civil unrest.
Everybody now knows, except for some conspiracy theorists who know nothing, that the coronavirus is no political hoax that will disappear immediately after Election Day. The virus hasn’t circled Nov. 3. It will spread on long after that whether voters pick Trump or Biden.
Everybody now knows, except for some who still won’t believe projections of the experts, that the coronavirus isn’t behind us, except in the sense that it lurks right behind us.
Everybody now knows, except for some of the very selfish, that wearing a mask is important, not some affront to freedom. Like the virus, a mask doesn’t have a political preference.
The fate of future debates is uncertain.
As for that first debate, what was said or shouted by whom suddenly is replaced in headlines about whether the shouting could have spread the virus on stage or to families and close associates of the candidates in the audience.
If the virus flew on Air Force One, where else has it traveled?
While that first debate now takes a less prominent place in the news, it still is a campaign event with some potential political impact, one way or the other.
Often in a political debate, it’s not something said on issues, the actual words, that has the most impact with voters. It’s how a candidate looks and acts while saying it.
Thus it was with that first debate, even though it was ridiculed as a train wreck, a miserable mess, and justifiably so.
Analysts focused on what Trump said about the Proud Boys and what former Vice President Biden didn’t say about expanding the Supreme Court. Most of the millions of viewers focused on neither. Most never had heard of the Proud Boys and didn’t catch the reference amid chaotic verbal exchanges. Most weren’t waiting anxiously to hear about the number of justices.
They did focus on which candidate looked more in control, somewhat less nasty.
Biden was a winner in polls right after the debate, not because of great debating skill or the words he said — words hard to hear in the shouted chaos.
Biden was ahead because he looked more likeable. He even smiled while under an attack designed to make him blow up in anger. He looked at the camera, looking out and speaking directly to the viewing audience in America.
Maybe Biden won, gaining with voters who were still undecided. Maybe the president actually won, solidifying his base in key states, the states that will decide the election.
Then the virus won.
October 04, 2020 at 04:00PM
https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/opinion/colwell-the-virus-doesnt-care-whether-it-strikes-in-red-states-blue-states-or-the/article_b96210c0-03ff-11eb-a3eb-9f4a51b5c07c.html
Colwell: The virus doesn't care whether it strikes in red states, blue states — or the White House - South Bend Tribune
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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