I write to you out of concern for the medical emergency afflicting our nation. With more than a million citizens infected and almost seventy-thousand dead, this pandemic has quickly evolved into the greatest crisis of my lifetime, surpassing even the urgency and impact of the terror attacks that transpired on September 11, 2001. We are in desperate need of leadership that only the White House can provide, and we need it now.
My purpose is not to cast blame or to make accusations, but to plead for obvious and indispensable solutions. We are faced with a dual threat: the medical peril of the virus itself and the economic devastation that the pandemic brings in its wake. These dangers can not be dealt with separately. There can be no restoration of the economy without redressing the threat to public health, and public health can only be safeguarded by due attention to the maintenance of our collective economic well-being.
The problem is thus exquisitely complicated. Social distancing has helped "flatten the curve," but can not go on indefinitely without permanently bankrupting the economy. At the same time, though the harmful medical impacts of the disease are currently within bounds that our health care system can manage, until an effective vaccine or treatment is discovered (which may take years), a careless return to "normal" will send infections soaring again and overwhelm our courageous medical professionals, sending us back into an economic tailspin. We are caught between Scylla and Charybdis. Our only hope is a coordinated national mobilization, comparable to the civil campaign that underpinned our effort in World War II.
On the one hand, everyone (man, women and child) must be enlisted in the effort to reorganize our social and economic life to minimize the risk of infection and slow (if not halt) the transmission of the disease. Everyone must acquire and wear masks (and, when appropriate, washable or disposable gloves). All transactions must be reconfigured to allow them to transpire with as little contact as possible. Activities must be shifted outdoors, into venues that allow for social distancing, or staggered in time to allow for lower density of participants. Businesses must be constrained to and supported in adopting flexible work hours or operating at reduced capacity.
On the other hand, all of the powers of our government and economic infrastructure must be mobilized to support the public health effort. Production of testing kits, masks, gloves, protective equipment, and therapeutic supplies (ventilators, oxygen concentrators, etc.) must be ramped up to meet demand. Transport networks must be organized. Overflow capacity for hospitals must be prepared and ready to be deployed as and where needed.
Confronting such a complex challenge requires the persistent broadcast of a coherent national message. Everyone must be given the same reliable information about the dangers of the virus, the proven methods that can stave off infection, and the necessary measures for the protection of the general welfare. Such information must be delivered credibly and dispassionately, without any hint of evasion or partisan political motive. Under ideal circumstances, given how fragmented we are as a society and how distracted people are by fear and disinformation, it will take weeks of focused and relentless communication to insure that the message penetrates as broadly and sinks in as deeply as will be necessary to meet the task. If people have any suspicion that they are being lied to or manipulated in any way they will simply not listen, and the necessary effort to mobilize the nation for recovery will fail.
This leaves us with a conundrum. Though the White House is the only institution with the profile and audience expansive enough to get the message out, you, Mr. President, are not a credible messenger. You have traded in too many lies, too much disinformation, and too much disingenuous partisan rhetoric to ever enjoy the confidence and trust of a critical mass of our citizenry. Even if you were to see the error of your ways now, we do not have the time to wait out whatever learning curve would be necessary to bring your style into line with our needs as a country. Again, I do not write this to be gratuitously insulting or hurtful, but because these are the plain facts of a critically urgent dilemma.
What then is the solution? You could appoint a new, vastly powerful "Pandemic Tsar," someone widely known, broadly trusted, and with a proven record of managerial success. Such a person could become the nexus of the vitally necessary communication strategy that is our best and only hope as a nation. The person who would be the obvious choice for such a position is Senator Mitt Romney. He would have the immediate and total attention of the media and the public, and would be a spokesperson credible to almost all Americans, on all parts of the political spectrum. I know that you and he have had profound political differences in the recent past. But for precisely that reason his elevation to the position of Pandemic Tsar would reflect admirably on you both, and inspire unity and hope in the people who need your leadership so desperately.
I know that the solution I propose is somewhat radical. I hope, however that you will give it some reflection, and that in any case this letter finds you well. Thank you for your attention on this matter.
Sincerely,
Andrew Meyer
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