Sounds like a smart idea. I hope Arkansas joins with it’s neighbors too and coordinates when to reopen for business.
Covid-19 has struck differently in various regions of the country. The densely populated cities were hit harder than rural areas. It makes sense for states to work together in forming plans.
The Federal government has very little say in these decisions. IMHO Restaurants follow state health codes, schools are run by the states, curfews are decided locally.
I’ve been thinking about how the states can get the economy running again.
The Feds can play an important role in setting up Virtual meetings and providing the needed scientific resources. Leadership is badly needed to get everyone talking and developing a consensus for various regions of the US.
I’d suggest an outside negotiator. Perhaps Bill Clinton? He had over 12 years as governor in addition to his years as President. He has the gravitas and respect to handle negotiations on this scale. I think he would accept the role given the life and death stakes.
I realize the biggest obstacle is the President. That’s why I suggested someone that’s not active in politics.
Actual Federal leadership is probably too much to hope for. I firmly believe that Bill Clinton could provide the needed leadership to facilitate negotiations with the states. But, it probably will never happen. That’s just how things work in government.
I admire Cuomo for stepping up and reaching out to neighboring states.
Arkansas has a R governor. But I’m pretty sure Hutchinson isn’t going to endanger lives by blindly following a President’s order.
Maybe I misunderstood the proposal, but I think the neutral negotiator would operate between the states as a unit and the federal government, not between NY/NJ. And honestly, I think we need that, but I think one of the parties would not accept a neutral mediator he couldn’t control. Just guessing.
Fifty states and each has its unique concerns and agendas.
A neutral negotiator/mediator would be very helpful in working with the Feds. There’s a lot of important health information that’s needed to make informed decisions. There’s also economic considerations. That has to be made available to the state governors.
Ultimately each state has to decide when to lift restrictions. It’s in everyone’s best interest if there’s a informed and coordinated plan.
I’m not sure who else could fill the role of neutral negotiator/mediator except Bill Clinton. Carter is too old. Obama is still too closely tied to politics. Bush was never considered a skilled manager or negotiator.
Right now Ivanka and Jared is in charge of a council to reopen America. They certainly don’t have the experience or respect to negotiate with 50 state governors.
Bill Clinton is a great choice. If you wanted someone separate from politics entirely, you could go with Bill Gates. Even someone like Mitt Romney would probably be acceptable to everyone - except Donald Trump.
It seems like a really big ‘reveal’ that this is needed, as in no competent leadership at the federal level necessitated this. I’m glad it happened, so the failing at the top hasn’t cause a larger mess.
The states are well served by staying as far away from the Federal government as possible in any of these talks. Every state discussed has handled the issue better than the federal government — even states that haven’t done as well.
There’s literally no reason to call on anyone who isn’t going to help them. Even Dr. Fauci can’t say that Trump is full of shit, he can merely imply it. Nobody in the Federal government has earned the privilege of being involved with those talks if they can’t tell the unvarnished truth.
But really, nobody needs a politician to be a mediator in these discussions. They simply require a technocrat. If someone is appointed to mediate who we have heard of, the process is fucked.
In many ways it makes sense to handle this on a regional level. The needs, risks, and concerns of, say, densely populated New England are going to be different than those of, say, the Dakotas-Montana-Wyoming. Hawaii being a group of islands will be yet a different matter. And so on and so forth. The US is geographically too big and varied a place for a one-size-fits-all approach anyway even if there will be some things done in common everywhere.
Like it or not, the federal government, specifically the Trump administration, has a fair amount of power here. They control FEMA’s actions, the Defense Production Act can be very useful, a coordinated message, while taking into account different regional needs, would be hugely valuable. Of course states should go it alone if facing a useless administration response. But that’s not optimal. The mediator would ideally help with that. I’m not sanguine it’s going to actually happen.
What does FEMA, the Defense Production Act, and so on have to do with retail businesses and schools and governors’ decisions on whether to reopen them?
Reopening the economy is contingent on having sufficent PPE (personal protective equipment) and testing infrastructure. A coordinated response would consist of the administration ensuring the availability of those and governors/mayors reopening businesses in a graduated manner.
That doesn’t mean FEMA gets a seat with the governors, because they are doing a terrible job in what you say they are needed for. Fuck them. They can’t be depended on, because Trump can snap his fingers and cut off all aid because one of these governors didn’t grovel enough.
Depending on FEMA to provide enough PPE to reopen is a near-guarantee for failure.
I think you’re misunderstanding me. I don’t propose putting FEMA itself in such a panel, but rather someone who can actually represent the administration. Having a high-powered liaison between the states and the administration could be incredibly valuable for the reasons I’ve suggested, but I’m under no misconception that they could do their job without administration cooperation, nor do I believe that such cooperation is likely to materialize. And I think that sucks.
