#Truths about vaccine timetable and other commentary

Pandemic journal: Truths About Vax Timetable

Maybe some national leader should stand up and admit “the best-case scenario” is that all “higher-risk Americans get at least one shot by the end of April or early May” and others probably not before Mother’s Day, suggests Jim Geraghty at National Review. “People would not like hearing that.” But it’s “an accurate layout of the cold, hard numbers,” maybe even optimistic: Seniors and people with comorbidities number almost 143 million, yet we’re only vaccinating 1.3 million people a day. At that pace, 113 million could get a single dose by April 29. And for many, the second shot wouldn’t come until weeks later. “Which is why the vaccination of the highest-risk Americans would really be complete closer to the end of May.”

Conservative: Impeachment’s Political Mischief

Democrats’ “rhetorical inflation of a dangerous riot by a mob to a full-blown ‘insurrection’ is more than political hyperbole,” warns Jonathan Tobin at The Federalist. Despite “little evidence,” Dems claim the few hundred Jan. 6 Capitol rioters were part of a “full-fledged domestic terrorism conspiracy” and link them to not just President Donald Trump but “even those who voted for him,” as they seek to paint “the Republican Party as disloyal, authoritarian and violent.” Impeachment isn’t just “revenge”; it’s “a vehicle for making the culture war about Trump a permanent feature of American politics.” Transforming “a protest” into a “rebellion” is an “act of political mischief aimed at discrediting legitimate opposition.” By making the “defense of democracy” the “defining issue,” Dems could “lock Republicans into a permanent minority position.”

From the right: Team Biden’s ‘Tragic’ Word Game

The word of the day, notes Ben Shapiro at RealClearPolitics, “is equity,” which is replacing the “traditionally American concept” of “equality,” meaning “the protection of the rights of all individuals.” Though the two words are separated by just one syllable, “equity” is different — it “means that each group should receive the same outcome as every other group.” To show racial inequity, “one need not show animus or discriminatory policy” but only an “unequal outcome.” Alas, this “idiotic and perverse” philosophy “has become the root of Biden administration policymaking. ‘Equity’ has been used as the keyword from environmental to economic to COVID-19 policy.” It may seem like just a word game, but it’s a “tragedy” to watch.

Elections wonk: Prez Blowouts Are Now Unlikely

The race between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, observes FiveThirtyEight’s Geoffrey Skelley, was “really close, underscoring how divided the country is electorally.” Indeed, this is “the most competitive era of presidential politics in the nation’s history,” as 2020 marked the ninth straight prez election with a popular-vote margin under 10 percentage points. The only similar period: 1876 to 1900, with “seven straight contests decided by single digits,” including two where the Electoral College winner didn’t win the popular vote. Why? Both eras feature unusually strong ideological divides between the two parties. And “many of the forces that have made our politics so combative and competitive today seem stronger than ever, which could foreshadow more bitterly close contests in the years ahead.”

Historian: Operation Warp Speed’s Success

Operation Warp Speed has succeeded because it followed “the model of the World War II mobilization,” argues Arthur Herman at The Wall Street Journal. Its feat of creating and distributing “about 50 million vaccine doses,” with “hundreds of millions more on the way,” makes it “the most remarkable achievement in modern medicine.” State officials must now “realize the federal government is operating in the wake of a health-care version of Pearl Harbor” and adjust accordingly. They can, for example, use their National Guard adjutants general as “vaccine czars,” with authority “to override state-agency procedures and coordinate with federal leadership.” Another key step: turn “major businesses with large distribution networks into links in a logistical chain” to “put as much vaccine as Operation Warp Speed can supply into as many arms as need it.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board