CBC Editorial: Monday, June 5, 2023; editorial #8851
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company
Consensus not confrontation.
These days that seems to be a nostalgic sentiment relegated to a bygone era of governing now giving way to division, derision and unyielding polarization.
But President Joe Biden, it seems, is a throwback – or maybe more correctly – a visionary?
His successful leadership to avert the nation’s financial collapse by talking, negotiating, bargaining and being open to compromise. “No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed,”
Biden said.
Compromise and consensus over confrontation and obstinance.
It is that vision of government and leadership is exemplified in
Biden’s reported choice to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Dr. Mandy Cohen the former state Secretary Health and Human Services. Biden’s official announcement is expected soon of Cohen’s appointment to replace Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, an infectious disease expert who is leaving the post at the end of June.
Amid the lies, deliberate misinformation and opportunistic political positioning during the COVID crisis, Dr. Cohen was a regular, knowledgeable and reassuring presence in North Carolina. While some voices from the state legislature and the White House sought to foment distrust, Cohen rose above them.
She
captured the public’ trust and
worked with the state’s business, health and public policy leaders to establish an effective response that – even amid the huge told the epidemic took in North Carolina – worked to save lives protect the health of the state than otherwise might have been possible.
“Mandy Cohen used a steady hand to help my administration lead North Carolina through the pandemic to be among the states with the lowest deaths and job losses per capita,”
said Gov. Roy Cooper, who appointed her to lead the state agency. “She is a brilliant, talented and battle-tested leader who would be a fantastic C.D.C. director.”
She is also a creative thinker who doesn’t let bureaucratic impediments get in the way of serving the public. She developed
an innovative workaround in the state to use federal Medicaid funds to help low-income people with the costs of housing, nutrition and other needs that have an impact on health.
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