I was originally going to ask what if the virus had arrived during Obama's presidency, but I thought it would be more interesting to place it in a parallel situation where Obama, like Trump this year, is running for re-election. Also, I don't remember exactly when Romney locked up the nomination in 2012, but for this hypothetical assume that, like BIden, he was the presumptive nominee by the time the pandemic hit.
And to remind everyone of the state of play that year: GOP controlled the House, Dems had the Senate. This was after the H1N1 pandemic but before Ebola. Perhaps most importantly, the economy was just crawling out of the Great Recession.
Honestly, I put in the poll questions for the hell of it, but I think the more interesting questions are the open-ended ones. Would we see a role reversal compared to right now, with the Democratic administration downplaying the crisis and the GOP hyping it? Or would we see the same dynamic with conservatives protesting shutdown orders? What would have been the political response? Hard to imagine Boehner and McConnell signing on to the trillions Congress has passed over the past few months.
And to remind everyone of the state of play that year: GOP controlled the House, Dems had the Senate. This was after the H1N1 pandemic but before Ebola. Perhaps most importantly, the economy was just crawling out of the Great Recession.
Honestly, I put in the poll questions for the hell of it, but I think the more interesting questions are the open-ended ones. Would we see a role reversal compared to right now, with the Democratic administration downplaying the crisis and the GOP hyping it? Or would we see the same dynamic with conservatives protesting shutdown orders? What would have been the political response? Hard to imagine Boehner and McConnell signing on to the trillions Congress has passed over the past few months.