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I believe you're overstating your case. Of course he doesn't deserve all the credit (or even most of the credit?), but the reality is, "the people of California

by rconti 6y ago

I believe you're overstating your case. Of course he doesn't deserve all the credit (or even most of the credit?), but the reality is, "the people of California" take cues from their leadership; not just the Governor, but all leaders. Of course not everybody respects the leadership, at any level, or at all levels. And it shows, in areas that levied death threats against people for daring to suggest that they wear a mask, for example. Newsom was clearly not being completely honest when he said "we'll let the science dictate the reopenings" and then immediately turned around and said "science says we can reopen!" when folks in Orange County were threatening to execute their public officials. Obviously you can poke holes in any policy; some of them were overly broad, some were overly narrow. Some exemptions made no sense. Some tradeoffs made no sense. The goal is to get it as right as possible, not to be perfect.

jeffbee 6y ago
I guess my main beef is that the outcome in California is objectively bad. It only seems creditable graded on a curve against morons like South Dakota. By global standards California is doing very poorly with 100+ people dead every day, while people in Taiwan go about their normal lives.
- rconti 6y ago
  Objectively bad in that we have, what 1 million cases, and over 19,000 deaths? Absolutely! Compared to the rest of the US, where CA is 42nd in cases per 1M population with about 30,000, and 38th in death rate with 484 deaths/1M population, we don't look so bad. On the global stage, if CA was a country, in deaths we'd be 32nd (where Luxembourg is); better than Sweden, France, UK, Italy, and Spain, but worse than Portugal, Ireland, Canada... In cases (probably harder to figure due to testing rates), we'd also be in the low 30s in terms of places, but we'd be worse than some of those countries above; in particular, Sweden and Italy. I don't see how this fits your description of a state that is doing awful on the global stage. (worldometer)

by rconti 6y ago

jeffbee 6y ago

I guess my main beef is that the outcome in California is objectively bad. It only seems creditable graded on a curve against morons like South Dakota. By global standards California is doing very poorly with 100+ people dead every day, while people in Taiwan go about their normal lives.

rconti 6y ago
Objectively bad in that we have, what 1 million cases, and over 19,000 deaths? Absolutely! Compared to the rest of the US, where CA is 42nd in cases per 1M population with about 30,000, and 38th in death rate with 484 deaths/1M population, we don't look so bad. On the global stage, if CA was a country, in deaths we'd be 32nd (where Luxembourg is); better than Sweden, France, UK, Italy, and Spain, but worse than Portugal, Ireland, Canada... In cases (probably harder to figure due to testing rates), we'd also be in the low 30s in terms of places, but we'd be worse than some of those countries above; in particular, Sweden and Italy. I don't see how this fits your description of a state that is doing awful on the global stage. (worldometer)