I hereby want to be among the first Americans to offer a word of thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci for his dedicated service to the nation as its leading infectious disease expert.
Fauci said he is going to retire by the end of President Biden’s current term. Frankly, he’s earned some peace and quiet and some time with his family.
The good doctor, who’s 80 years of age, has become a punching bag among those on the right who have objected to his constant lecturing to us about masks, about social distancing, about the need to vaccinate ourselves against the COVID 19 virus. He has been on the front pages of newspapers and on our TV screens endlessly since the pandemic broke in late 2019.
Now, to be clear, Fauci hasn’t always gotten everything spot-on correct every single time. Do I blame him for that? Do I expect this learned medical scholar to get every single detail correct upon its first utterance? No. The man is a human being.
He has sought to educate himself along the way about the pandemic and for my money he has given us solid advice along the way. He is not, as Donald Trump once described him, a loser or an idiot … or some such epithet.
Joe Biden has shown the good sense to let the scientific team led by Fauci do the speaking for the administration on the pandemic.
You can take this to the bank, too: Right wingers are going to say something like “Just wait until we get Congress back under our control and we’ll launch investigations into how Fauci ‘lied’ to us.” Bullsh**!
The man has served through seven presidential administrations and has devoted his career to public service. Anthony Fauci has served the public in the finest tradition imaginable.