> Let's applaud the achievements that saved lives, regardless of the administration that promulgated them.
While I wholeheartedly applaud this amazing achievement of technology, I think that it's an open question as to if this was a political "noteworthy achievement" that differentiates the previous US administration from any other past, future or hypothetical alternate administration.
i.e. Yes, they signed off on "operation warp-speed", but who wouldn't? Isn't this the bare minimum, easy decision that any administration would affirm? It's throwing money at big private company, and that is how the US government under any administration likes to tackle big problems, rather than than the messy details and "big-government" stigma of co-ordinating a response in house?
In normal times, there is the potential for reputational damage from a Solyndra-style failure, but this was clearly not normal times.
Given that at the time the democrats opposed speeding the approvals, Newsom said CA would do its own analysis, etc I think it's fair to say this wasn't the obvious choice.
We still underspent especially on manufacturing leading to the winter of 2020-2021 with very little administered.
There aren't 200 countries with the resources that the USA has to spend on it.
Other powers with large economies also spent a lot - notably, Germany funded the development of Pfizer's COVID vaccine, and the UK funded the Oxford-AZ vaccine.
So, it would not be accurate to say that "operation warp-speed" was unique.
While I wholeheartedly applaud this amazing achievement of technology, I think that it's an open question as to if this was a political "noteworthy achievement" that differentiates the previous US administration from any other past, future or hypothetical alternate administration.
i.e. Yes, they signed off on "operation warp-speed", but who wouldn't? Isn't this the bare minimum, easy decision that any administration would affirm? It's throwing money at big private company, and that is how the US government under any administration likes to tackle big problems, rather than than the messy details and "big-government" stigma of co-ordinating a response in house?
In normal times, there is the potential for reputational damage from a Solyndra-style failure, but this was clearly not normal times.