President Biden is like the drowning man too disoriented to grab hold of the life raft. Earlier this week a judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate for people traveling on airplanes and other public transportation. Incredibly, after some dithering, the White House said it would appeal the ruling if the CDC decides the mask rule is necessary to protect the public.Boom, just like that, the fizz went out of the champagne. For a brief, celebratory moment, Americans imagined life without those infernal masks that have amped up teen acne, caused what my ophthalmologist describes as a plague of eye infections, and sparked innumerable scuffles on airplanes between huffy flight attendants and mask-defying 2-year-olds. Doesn’t the president get it? People are over this pandemic, and ready to move on. That was rhetorical; Mr. Biden and his nanny-state enforcers do not get it. Remember how Mr. Biden campaigned on having a “plan” to defeat Covid? Turns out, he had — clearly — no plan to eliminate the bug and — clearly, again — no plan for what comes next.Mr. Biden should be writing Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle a thank-you note. The president is mired in Covid protocols and rule-making that have little basis in fact or medicine and that are increasingly unpopular. Yet he has been unwilling to dismantle the pandemic protections for fear of alienating a dwindling portion of the country still fearful of the virus and clinging to masks and social distancing.The judge saved Mr. Biden from having to make that decision. If only he and his handlers were perceptive enough to accept the gift. After all, managing Covid is one of the few areas where Mr. Biden has seen his polling tick higher over the past two months. That coincides with the decline in Omicron cases and — more important — relaxation of rules; it has zero to do with the president’s actions. But a win is a win; they should not jeopardize it.Americans cheered the axing of the mask requirement, as did the employees of airlines. The country is ready to treat Covid like other seasonal viruses that can be managed with the use of vaccines and therapies as we go about our daily lives.A recent Axios poll makes this clear. The survey shows only 9 percent of the country still consider Covid a “crisis” while 73 present regard the virus as a “problem, but manageable.” Axios also reports a growing number of people getting on with their lives, returning to traditional activities like traveling and socializing. Because every decision comes wrapped with muddle in the Biden White House, the president’s initial reaction to the judge’s decision actually made sense. En route to a campaign event in New Hampshire, Mr. Biden was asked about the ruling and countered that travelers should decide for themselves if they want to wear face coverings.“That’s up to them” he said, miraculously sounding coherent even though Teleprompter-free. Yes: People can wear masks solo in the bathtub if they want to, and certainly on planes if that makes them feel safer; just don’t impose that demand on everyone else.Naturally, the Biden White House realized that encouraging such freedom was reckless and quickly did a U-turn. It passed the buck over to the CDC, even though that agency, at the end of February, handed mask ruling onto local authorities. You can bet it wants no part in this decision. The CDC, in case you missed it, has not exactly covered itself in glory these past two years. From botching early efforts to develop a reliable Covid test to not monitoring the vaccine roll-out accurately to failing to provide an anxious public with test kits this past winter to allowing the teachers unions to dictate school policy — the CDC has lost the trust of the public. Even more alarming, the New York Times reported in February that the embattled agency had purposefully “withheld critical data on boosters, hospitalizations and, until recently, wastewater analyses.” Some charge that the CDC has misled the public, covering up data that might show, for instance, that young people do not need the vaccine. No wonder confidence in the agency has plummeted. So now the Biden White House trusts this failing agency to determine whether we need to mask up on planes and trains. What a mistake. My guess: If the White House appeals the judge’s ruling and re-imposes the mask rule, most people will simply ignore it. There will be no putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.
