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 pop

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)