Critical moment theory.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Paul GleiserCritical moment theory.


Here’s a fact. Parents of bottle-fed infants are dependent upon infant formula for the survival of their babies. If infant formula isn’t available, sharing half your ham sandwich with your baby isn’t an option.

Yet infant formula in the richest nation in the world is in critically short supply. That’s because the Biden administration’s FDA took the largest producer of baby formula offline without so much as a passing thought as to how the resulting supply gap would be filled.

When the inevitable shortage blossomed into the crisis it was certain to become, only then did the administration start making any noises about dealing with it.

Here’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Face the Nation last Sunday.

Well, look, the administration acted from day one after the recall, taking steps like creating more flexibility for the WIC program to help rebalance the availability of formula in the states. There are more actions that are underway including looking at imports…”

Thanks to Jimmy Failla, I, too, now own a Politics-to-English dictionary. When a politician says, “from day one,” he means, “we’re really late on this.” And when he says, “looking at,” he means, “taking no concrete action.”

As usual, we can count on the ever-quotable John Kennedy, Republican senator from Louisiana, for the most cogent analysis.

Here’s what the Biden administration ought to do. He ought to call in the top ten people at the FDA. And he ought to say ‘what happened?’, and give them about 20 minutes to explain what happened. And then the president ought to turn to the top ten people at the FDA and say, ‘You have ten days to fix it’. Now I can promise you at least one of those bureaucrats is gonna say, ‘Oh, Mr. President, you don’t understand, it can’t be fixed in ten days. We need a bunch of consultants and experts.’ That’s the one you fire. And then the rest of them will fall into line.”

Which is what would have happened – or something along similar lines – in a Trump White House. (You’ll recall that thanks to Trump’s slashing of FDA red tape, the COVID vaccines that the Biden administration insisted that we all take got developed in about one eighth the time the “experts” said it would take.) Say what you will about Donald Trump and his verbal excesses and occasional boorishness, judging purely on policy and competency, his administration ran circles around that of Joe Biden.

So, picture this if you can. See in your mind’s eye an exhausted 29-year-old, nominally liberal, working mother — a young woman who would otherwise retch at the thought of voting for Donald Trump. Picture her with her new baby in the car driving from store to store desperately looking for formula.

Who do you think she’d rather have as president in that fraught moment – a president that “helps rebalance” things in the states and, “looks at” imports? Or a president that spearheaded the development of three new vaccines in less time than a full-term pregnancy?

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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7 Responses

  1. Matthew says:

    Spearheaded , you mean cut some big taxpayer checks to convince folks to speed things up, after he decided it was no longer a hoax. Under the circumstances who wouldn’t, any president would have done the same. I’m betting it wasn’t difficult, spending others money is the easiest money to use. Deficit went up every year in last administration, just to mention
    since it matters again mysteriously. Contamination, and several babies deaths linked to product from said facility, seems like reasonable reason to hit the brakes. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Politics today is simply ” DUMB” and apparently relying on same from many. It’s getting harder to give people the benefit of the doubt and saying it’s ignorance. Ran circles, sure,and circumstances were exactly the same in every aspect in the world,pre pandemic and rebound from pandemic ( shut down ) , please,really?

  2. Linda M says:

    Several little things that I have heard all my life come to mind. Like You don’t get thirsty until the well runs dry. You don’t miss something or someone until you lose them. And the one my Granny was fond of repeating …You don’t know someone until you marry them. And to that I say: You don’t really know someone until they are “elected” and that goes from the least on the totem pole to the top. But unlike a marriage, the other can be fixed if everything is fair and square.

    • Ron Eagleman says:

      Very good analogies. However, I am not sure that incompetent leadership can be fixed even if everything is “fair and square”. We must remember that many states and cities are being run into the ground by the same policies and politicians that Paul described in his commentary. We must also remember that these politicians were elected, some in a landslide, by an electorate that is probably in the 39% of those who think President Biden is doing a good job. Yes, with a concerted effort, it is possible that voting integrity can be fixed, but sadly, you cannot fix stupid! I would like to meet one of the 39% who thinks this president is doing a good job…on second thought, I will pass on that experience.

  3. Vic Taylor says:

    In the words of Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Or in this case “doesn’t”.
    This man is mentally incapable of taking any kind of action, and his administration has abandoned him for fear of guilt by association. It’s like your senile grandfather driving a bus full of kids around cliffs in the Rockies. You would not let Biden drive that bus, yet he is at the wheel driving our country right over the cliff, and all we can do is send emails like this in frustration. God help us all!

  4. Matthew says:

    Capatilist system, free market, presidents don’t control that,unless folks want ” Government overreach ” as,some call it. This is obviously a global issue in supply and demand, hello ! I know folks on the right only want to bash the left anymore, but really ? Blaming one man and his administration is absurd.

    • Mike says:

      Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, really want to stick with this post? Lets talk about oil and gas briefly. Under the Trump Administration, America was energy independent and a net exporter of oil and gas. You agree with that, right? We had no problems with the energy sector; which in turn was fueling our economy with jobs and cash. The Trump Administration had deals with NAFTA, TransPacific Alliance, NATO countries were paying their fair share for the first time, our enemies knew not to screw with us; or else. America WAS an economic world leader as we should be. Then along comes President Joe Biden and his clown show. On the first day of HIS Administration Executive Orders are signed KILLING the oil and gas industry, NAFTA, TransPacific deal, and many other productive areas America was booming in under Trump. Do you agree with that? From THAT point forward the economy went south as did thousands of jobs, and the spirial out of control was set in motion. NO Corporate greed or NO Russian invasion started this chaos. The Biden Administration and their clowns, as well as our senile President did this. They laid the groundwork for this degradation of our society and economy and they have nurtured the continuing degrading of EVERYTHING our Country was built on. Wake up and smell the burning coffee; Come On Man!

  5. Matthew says:

    You’re referring to TPP ( TransPacificPartnership) that last president pulled us out of ? Obama initially signed us up. Anything Obama did as we know he got rid of basically. Killed the oil industry ? Shell reported tripled profits, their not alone . Still loading ships ( exporting) . But maybe you have it all figured out.

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