Abbott’s new orders unmask a political move
President George W. Bush looked “Top Gun” confident on that overcast day in May 2003. Sporting a flight suit, he emerged from a Navy fighter jet expertly landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The scene was made for TV. Young crewmen gathered around him for pictures, the president looking like a hero home from war.
It was a prelude to a speech Bush and others in his administration would live to regret. His declaration of “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq hardly ended operations there.
That would come eight years and more than 4,500 U.S. lives later, not including members of coalition forces. Many more remained among the walking wounded.
Bush’s speech, roundly mocked, became another demoralizing chapter in history.
That’s what came to mind Tuesday as Gov. Greg Abbott announced, with some bravado, the lifting of a statewide mask mandate and the reopening of businesses, no matter what they do, to “100 percent” capacity.
The governor seemed to leave room for local intervention, but Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff called it essentially meaningless.
Abbott used Texas Independence Day to proclaim that businesses “don’t need the state telling them how to operate,” hitting all the political notes about “freedom” and “rights” his audience wanted to hear.
Unmasked and sitting together, they applauded and cheered.
The next Texas disaster begins next Wednesday. Mark your calendars.
His decisions will lead to another wave of positive cases, and some will involve more infectious variants.
New caseloads will be linked to bar reopenings, where green beer will flow for St. Patty’s Day, and spring breakers will flood beaches.
Easter barbecues will come next, followed by Mother’s Day gatherings.
Those infections and deaths will land on Abbott’s desk, along with the still-unknown deaths in February linked to snowstorms, electricity and water outages and leaders who opted for greed and deregulation in setting up the state’s power grid.
Wiser leaders have used every possible negative adjective to describe Abbott’s decisions, from premature to criminally negligent. President Joe Biden called it “Neanderthal thinking.”
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said reopening the state without restrictions and masks will cost lives.
What the state needs are more vaccines, the mayor said.
In tweets and statements, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo warned that Texans will have to continue masking because, “This is all on us now.”
She joined a chorus of leaders who suspect Abbott’s moves were politically motivated, “a cynical attempt to distract Texans
from the failures of state oversight of our power grid.”
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-texas, was more pointed.
“Governor Abbott’s failure to listen to science and medical advice will cost Texans their lives … Clearly the announcement is a desperate distraction from the Governor’s dereliction of duty during the massive power and water outages, which he has never accepted personal responsibility.”
Castro likened Abbott to Florida Gov. Ron Desantis and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who are “auditioning to be the next Donald Trump.” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also ended a state’s mask mandate.
All are Republicans. Abbott didn’t use the term “mission accomplished.” His actions said it for him. Meanwhile, Texans will continue to get infected, infect others and require treatment, hospitalization and ventilators.
Illness and death aren’t good for business.
More than 43,000 Texans have died of COVID-19; 2,676 in Bexar County confirmed by Metro Health; with 255 more under investigation.
Less than 10 percent of Texans statewide have been fully vaccinated.
Evidence of Abbott’s decision will appear in the data and in the social media posts of those fighting and dying of COVID-19.
The worst part of Abbott’s announcements were his contradictions.
He warned the disease still exists, as does personal responsibility to remain vigilant, follow state standards and the advice of experts. The words were hollow.
Texans can best fight back by wearing masks, maintaining 6 feet or more away from those outside their pandemic bubbles, washing their hands frequently and staying home as much as possible.
On social media sites, some were already mounting a defense by changing their profiles with pictures of themselves above a public-health banner, “I Choose to Wear a Mask.”
Some will wait for the allclear, not from politicians, but from scientists.