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 By introducing vast new vaccine mandates he once opposed, Biden is
fighting back against what the White House sees as the sabotage of
their agenda by a petulant, politically motivated minority.
After months wasted trying to persuade elected officials with
bipartisan meetings and citizens reluctant to get vaccinated through
gentle outreach, Biden felt he had little choice but to call for
more aggressive steps, according to interviews with nine senior
aides and close allies.
The president's exasperation has been clear.
"What makes it incredibly more frustrating is that we have the tools
to combat COVID-19, and a distinct minority of Americans - supported
by a distinct minority of elected officials - are keeping us from
turning the corner," he said on Thursday, referring to an estimated
80 million unvaccinated.
"We cannot allow these actions to stand in the way of protecting the
large majority of Americans who have done their part and want to get
back to life as normal."
Biden's vaccine mandates for all federal employees and larger
companies come as the number of infections in the United States
rises, the use of face masks return, newly opened schools shut,
hospital beds fill up, and some Republican-led states defy
recommendations from health officials.
Some 100,000 Americans are predicted
(https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=cumulative-deaths)
to die from COVID between now and Dec. 1, more than the same period
last year, bringing the U.S. death toll to 750,000. The prospect of
the return to normalcy that Biden promised just two months ago,
during a July 4 "Independence from COVID" celebration, has given way
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-economys-hot-vax-summer-ends-cool-covid-fall-delta-rises-2021-09-03
in many quarters to uncertainty and fear.
Biden's vaccine mandate marks a turning point, said Julian Zelizer,
a Princeton University presidential historian.
"What you're seeing is him confronting the reality of ... vaccine
resistance," he said. "It's a little bit like his early views of
Republicans on Capitol Hill, that you can persuade them through the
right words and right demeanor. I think the administration has woken
up to the reality that this isn't true."
As growth in vaccine rates began to slow, the White House launched a
summer campaign that included offers of cash, door-to-door outreach,
and setting up clinics at workplaces, festivals, and places of
worship. They recruited social media influencers – from soccer moms
to fashion bloggers to Disney star Olivia Rodrigo – to help spread
the word.
Those efforts largely crashed into a wall of defiance and
misinformation. As the highly contagious Delta variant of the
coronavirus spread, the job growth rate in August was the slowest
since January, and economists are shaving their growth forecasts for
the months ahead.
The economy, and Biden's legacy, are on the line. Ultimately history
– and Americans – will judge Biden on his ability to manage the
COVID crisis, say historians and analysts.
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 "Everything flows from his
ability to manage the pandemic, from our
economic health to our physical health and to
his political standing," Zelizer said.
PUBLIC BACKS MANDATES, DEMS SAY
The last two months have been politically
challenging for the president, aides and allies
said.
As anxiety about the virus fueled concerns about
the economic recovery, the chaotic Afghanistan
withdrawal drew criticism from Republicans and
Democrats and sparked finger-pointing inside the
administration.
The president's net approval among independent
voters sank from 17 percentage points in
February to zero in August, according to
Reuters/Ipsos polling.
The mandates are likely to shore up Biden's
popularity among the 75% of U.S. adults who have
received at least one vaccine shot, Democratic
political consultants said.
"People who are vaccinated are just kind of over
it," said Steve Schale, a strategist who runs
the pro-Biden political group Unite the Country
Inc, referring to resistance to vaccines.
Private polling by Biden allies viewed by
Reuters shows broad public consensus that the
pandemic remains a major problem requiring
action, and growing resentment against people
unwilling to get shots.
The issue may become like taxation on
cigarettes, Schale said - an imposition on the
minority of people who smoke but which is
favored by most Americans.
His group found wide majority support for
vaccine mandates along the lines proposed by
Biden this week in five election battleground
states that flipped from supporting Republican
former President Donald Trump in 2016 to the
Democrat Biden in 2020 - Arizona, Georgia,
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
With the Democrats' slim Congressional
majorities on the line in next year's elections,
Schale said the party could thrive if the votes
become "a referendum on whether people should
take personal responsibility to get out of the
pandemic."
Biden's new mandates will only energize his
opponents, said Amy Koch, a Republican
strategist in Minnesota.
"In this hyper-partisan environment, for him to
put down executive orders requiring vaccines
without getting any kind of buy in will for sure
galvanize his critics," she said. "The pendulum
could swing back."
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett
Renshaw; Editing by Heather Timmons and Daniel
Wallis)
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