Disunion haunts U.S. on its 245th birthday

July 3 (Reuters) – Most adults in the US are vaccinated, but COVID-19 cases are on the rise. The economy is accelerating, but inflation is looming. Cross-party cooperation has improved, but political resentments are high.

More than five months after Joe Biden’s presidency, the United States has changed in several ways, with healthier business prospects and a pandemic increasingly under control – at least in many parts of the country.

But with the world’s largest economy celebrating its 245th birthday on July 4th, the Independence Day holidays won’t be the full celebration Biden hoped or promised.

The White House’s goal of vaccinating 70% of adults against COVID-19 with at least one shot is not being met, and legislation to repair the country’s infrastructure is still a long way from getting to Biden’s desk.

Biden will celebrate with a 1,000-person party on the White House lawn and fireworks over the National Mall. Historians said he and the country had a reason for this.

“Compare where we are economically compared to a year ago, in terms of public health, in terms of the national psyche, it is almost as if you were living in another country,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss .

He said Biden had to walk a careful line between celebrating progress on the pandemic and declaring: Mission Accomplished.

“If Biden had prematurely declared the pandemic over, which he didn’t do, it would be difficult to ask Americans for future sacrifices, and it would also leave Democrats politically vulnerable for the next year if the pandemic recurs in any way “Said resolutely.

However, problems can arise. The U.S. government said Thursday that the number of daily coronavirus cases had increased over the past week, driven by spikes in the Midwest and Southeast, where vaccination rates are low and the highly contagious Delta variant is emerging for the first time found in India spreading.

“We are also celebrating as a country the fact that we are in a serious situation for those who have not been vaccinated,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease expert. “And the message is: get vaccinated.”

DIFFERENT PROBLEMS

As a sign of economic progress, the Labor Department announced on Friday that US companies had hired the most workers in 10 months in June.

But the economy is far from returning to normal, with 7 million fewer jobs than it was in February 2020, before the pandemic. In the meantime, some companies are struggling to hire the staff they need as workers struggling with childcare or worried about an illness stay at home.

Vanderbilt University historian Thomas Alan Schwartz noted that the country’s challenges have changed since former President Donald Trump’s tumultuous tenure.

“Our problems are really different now,” he said. “I think Joe Biden’s America is a quieter, gentler place.”

Racial discrimination demonstrations have declined after massive riots in 2020 over the death of George Floyd, a black man, and the white police officer charged with the murder was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.

Biden commemorated the 1921 massacre of black Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month, and signed law making June 19 a public holiday to commemorate the emancipation of the enslaved.

At the same time, threats from local extremism, especially from white racists, are increasing, the Biden Justice Department said.

And a Republican-led struggle against “critical racial theory” has turned the teaching of American history into a new political battleground.

Despite Biden’s promise to get Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together – and massive popular support – laws on infrastructure, police reform, and gun safety are still not on his desk.

The January 6th storm of the Capitol by Trump supporters that killed five people, including a Capitol police officer, remains an open wound. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has criticized members of his party who are working with a committee set up by Democratic spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi to investigate the uprising.

Still, McCarthy attended an event at the White House on Friday to honor the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, the 2020 World Series winners. Baseball is the quintessential American pastime.

“As we beat this pandemic and celebrate the return of fans to the stadiums, we’re celebrating something else: a national achievement,” Biden said, welcoming front workers, friends, families and neighbors together to take care of each other. “Together we have proven as a nation that betting against America is never a good bet.”

When asked about the future of Biden-backed infrastructure spending in Congress, McCarthy told a reporter that he was only there to celebrate the Dodgers.

Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Daniel Wallis

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