On Briefing Books
Much ado has been made about President Biden’s news conference last week, with predictable reactions coming from the various teams. One criticism worth delving into a bit was the thunder on the right about Biden’s use of a briefing book for the event. I rise in support of the briefing book.
I get it. We’re all used to watching Presidents stand up there and either dazzle us to the point of boredom with obscure policy depth (Clinton) or baffle us with bullshit word salads revealing utter ignorance of the issues (Trump). Or something in between. Joe Biden is not a young man, and this is something we’re going to have to get used to. He was elected President in no small measure because Americans evaluated his Democratic opposition and found no one they believed could not only beat Donald Trump, but who would have some success in putting the country back into the center of the channel (or canal). They did so with full knowledge of his age, and they rolled the dice in favor of calming maturity dispensed by a man in his late 70’s, rather than the carnival act of incompetence and corruption that preceded him.
If Joe Biden thinks he needs a briefing book to be able to communicate more effectively and confidently with the American people, then that’s what he should do. What I find MOST interesting is that many Americans look across the Atlantic to our older cousins in the UK with great admiration for “Prime Minister’s Questions”, the twice weekly trip of the Prime Minister to the floor of the House of Commons to answer questions. The Prime Minister rises from the bench to take to the podium, but before the answer is rendered, a briefing book is placed on the podium, and he or she goes to the pages that speak to the particular issue raised. Whatever one may think of Boris Johnson, he is generally believed to be a canny communicator and a deft thinker. He uses a briefing book (see below). Go and do a little Googling of Maggie Thatcher doing Prime Minister’s Questions. She didn’t use a book, so much as a big pile of papers.
First COVID Shot
I have written here before about my struggle between envy of those who have already gotten their COVID shot(s) and genuine gratitude that they were able to obtain it. Early in the year, the New York Times had an algorithm where you could enter your age, sex, location and a few other facts and it would give you an estimate of where you stood in line across the entire general population. At the time, 81.9% of the American public was in front of me, and so I decided to put on a happy face and wait my turn. It has not always been easy.
Even in the dying days of the Trump Administration, it occurred to me that the rate at which vaccines were being produced, shipped, and administered was going to dramatically increase. I give credit to the people in that (generally corrupt) administration that put their shoulders into it and helped work with pharma to bring about the miracle that is these vaccines. And they are miracles. More than likely, even if Trump had won re-election, we would still be much better off vaccine-wise today than we were then. I believe the Biden came in and eliminated a lot of the schoolyard taunting and personality driven crap of the last bunch, but we are where we are because pretty much where we are was determined by where we were. This is a big, powerful, capable country, and once it spools up, it tends to get things done.
So it occurred to me that my initial calculations about when I’d get vaccinated were probably pessimistic. Then the President said that by May 1, everyone would be able to sign up for the shot, and I got a little more hopeful. And then one day about a week and a half ago, I checked an email I seldom use (yes, I still have an AOL account) and there it was….a little note from the Veterans Administration Maryland Health Care System telling me that the MD National Guard and the VA were joining forces to conduct an immunization clinic at the VA Hospital in Baltimore for Veterans in the VA System over 50 years of age on Saturday 27 March. They gave a phone number to call to get an appointment. I hunkered down in a comfortable spot, pretty much believing that I’d be on hold for a good while trying to make the appointment, and rang them up. There was a ring! Clearly I’d be sent into some endless answering do-loop…but then a bright voice answered. I told him why I was calling, and he said he’d be happy to help. What time would I like to come in? I was amazed—you mean I can pick? Sure. So I said how about 1045? And he said fine, 1045 it is. I gave him a little more information and the appointment was set.
So far, so good. No—better than that. So far, wonderful. It was the third week of march and I was making an appointment for the fourth week of March. My follow-on would be a month later. Two weeks after that, I’m a full-up round.
So Saturday, I drove up to Baltimore (Hon). I parked on the street, about a hundred yards from the VA hospital. I walked in at 1035. I figured it would be a while, that there’d be a lot of “hurry up and wait”. I walked out with my first shot at 1120, which included 15 minutes of post shot observation. From start to finish, this was a triumph of efficiency and effectiveness. I am so very, very grateful to Governor Hogan, the MD National Guard, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the VA system for this incredibly positive experience. Every human I interacted with was helpful, courteous, and cheerful.
Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for how emotional the experience would be. As I sat in the (socially distanced) observation room following the shot, I was glad I had the mask on and my head down, because I was a mess. Maybe the past year was a little more difficult than I had processed. But it was more than that. It was such intense, all-consuming gratitude. Gratitude to everyone responsible for the shot I had just taken. If any of you are reading this—whether you’ve been directly involved in producing vaccines, or driving trucks with vaccines in the back, or treating sick people, or comforting the dying—you have my deepest gratitude.
But there was more to the emotion than this. There was pride. The only reason I was sitting there on that day, at that time, was that I had served in the Navy. Four times while I moved from station to station yesterday, someone thanked me for my service. Thank me? I got SO MUCH MORE out of it than I put into it. The Navy took a 22 year old punk and turned him into a productive citizen. Any time I heard those words— “thank you for your service”—while I was in uniform, I found myself a little embarrassed because I had been so thoroughly enriched by the experience I was being thanked for. Hell, I was once the Captain of a Destroyer. Everything else is gravy.
But Saturday, the words brought me to tears. Tears of pride that in 1982 I had pursued a Naval ROTC Scholarship, and that in 1987 I was commissioned in the Navy. Tears of pride that for the next 21 years I gave the Navy and the country a good deal of me, and that since retiring in 2008, I’ve continued to serve if only by poking and prodding the Navy to better things. On Saturday, March 27th, 2021 at the VA Hospital in Baltimore Maryland, in the process of getting a shot at a time and a place made possible only by those earlier years, I had no awkwardness when hearing “thank you for your service”. I had only gratitude for the opportunity and for the wonderful people taking care of me that day.