The best vision is invariably hindsight. And though retrospection cannot undo past errors, it certainly positions us to be better decision makers in the future.
It is against this backdrop that we are forced to examine what could only be described as a most horrendous period in the recent history of the world’s superpower to the north, and lessons it has taught us.
Newly elected United States of America (USA) President Joseph Biden, recently commemorated the deaths of half-of-a-million Americans who were struck down by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
It was an acknowledgement of the suffering and pain inflicted on this well-endowed country, that its most recent former leader, regrettably, failed to do.
The former president took an irresponsible stand in describing the virus as a hoax and determining that it will simply “go away”. Even worse, was the jaw-dropping suggestion that maybe ingesting bleach or some other cleaning agent would kill the virus.
Credited, yes, for his push to develop COVID-19 vaccines at “warp speed”, the former President Donald Trump however had already done much damage in his failure to share the knowledge he clearly had about the great danger COVID-19 posed not only for the USA, but the rest of the world.
Countries like New Zealand and Australia, who have successfully controlled the outbreak, managed the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health crisis. The American leadership kept its eyes on the presidential election, and so the emphasis was on public relations and optics.
The Donald Trump-led administration, as politicians are wont to do, calculated that it was more politically expedient to take credit for developing a vaccine before the November 2020 polls, than devising a plan to actually vaccinate the population.
His was naked electioneering, gambling on the personal credit he might gain for the vaccine development, while downplaying the hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Conversely, the Australian approach was much more structured. It closed its borders to all non-Australian citizens on March 15 last year, when there were only 300 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 there.
That country mandated 14-day, supervised quarantine in a hotel for all international arrivals (including Australian citizens), and undertook aggressive testing and contact tracing.
Having watched from the sidelines, there is much that we can and should learn from the errors of the last American administration, and from the corrective measures being taken by the Biden/Harris team.
One of the starkest contrasts between the former administration and President Biden, was the commendable and sensible decision to be actually guided by the science and scientists and not by politics and politicians.
We are not so naïve as to think Biden has not built into the processes, some political advantages from the national vaccination plan, and his highly ambitious US$1.9 trillion package to fight the disease and rebuild the economy.
His White House roadshow starts shortly, selling the benefits of the rescue package, and will certainly enhance the Democrats’ chances in the mid-term election scheduled for next year.
It is unlikely that most American voters will forget who put, in some cases up to US$ 5, 000 in their bank accounts, stopped mass rental evictions, extended unemployment benefits, and helped to kick-start the economy in a way that millions are expected to regain employment.
Certainly, our Government made some calculations in its COVID-19 response, that on sober reflection, the leadership might admit were painful misjudgments.
But Prime Minister Mottley, like Biden is a skilled politician, who has been around long and knows that with big risks can come enormous gains, but there is always a chance that things can go bust.
Like the Biden administration, the Mottley Government knows that COVID-19 has been devastating on the Barbados economy. And so, securing the right balance between fighting the disease and maintaining economic stability, is a tightrope walk that could end in acclaim or long-term injury.
So far, Mottley has used her political capital as a regional standout and her international name recognition, to make calculated moves that serve her interest and that of the country.
When her stewardship is assessed, she will certainly be admired for her determination to power through the pitfalls of the pandemic. She deftly secured 100 000-plus doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and vaccinated more than 51 000 people with the first dose, even before some countries in the region obtained their supplies.
In her portfolio of achievements, surely will be the Barbados Welcome Stamp, as will the 60 000 care packages to households across the island.
Also, the fact that public servants retained their jobs even as the Treasury was haemorrhaging, will certainly be applauded.
Added to this was financial assistance to small businesses, vendors, taxi drivers, small shop keepers and to vulnerable homes, among others.
We suspect that these, along with her tenacity and ability to remain calm through the crisis, will likely earn her electoral approval.
