OPINION:
Add this to the list of Reasons Not To Vote For Joe Biden: He no longer thinks a national mask mandate would be a good idea. It’s not that he thinks national mask mandates are wrong. It’s that he ever thought national mask mandates could ever fly in the first place.
It’s that it took him oh-so-long to see the light on this — on what should actually be a Constitution No-Duh.
Why’d it take the former vice president so long to reach this (obvious) conclusion?
When Biden said in mid-August that “every single American should be wearing a mask when they’re outside” and that in his eyes, in his America, he’d “institute a mask mandate nationwide starting immediately,” Sen. Kamala Harris, his running mate, didn’t exactly step in and put a stop to the ridiculous call.
When Biden said a few days later at the Democratic National Convention that in his White House, “we’ll have a national mandate to wear a mask — not as a burden, but to protect each other,” Harris didn’t exactly say, hold the phone, let’s look at the Constitution.
Rather, the opposite.
“We just witnessed real leadership,” Harris said of Biden’s call for a nationwide mask mandate.
It’s a tag-team of “I am zee law” style of governing.
At long last, though, Biden’s flipped his view.
In a recent interview with an Arizona publication, Biden, asked about his face mask mandate, said this: “Here’s the deal, the federal government … there’s a constitutional issue whether the federal government could issue such a mandate. I don’t think constitutionally they could, so I wouldn’t issue a mandate.”
Great.
It’s great he sees the light.
But what took him so long?
The fact is: It’s hard enough getting the Democrats in the House and Senate on board with the idea of a democratic-republic, run by limited government ideals. Americans don’t need a president who’s not taken time to read the Constitution, either.
If Biden doesn’t know right off that stuffing masks onto the faces of every man, woman and child in America is unconstitutional, then he doesn’t deserve a shot at the White House. Lord knows what else a Biden White House would do — only to admit, only to acknowledge, after the fact and weeks later, oops! Sorry; guess that was unconstitutional after all. America can’t afford the gaffes.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.