Gov. Newsom embattled

Mr. 60 percent approval rating faces the crisis of his career

I will bet you a dinner at French Laundry you did not expect to see Gov. Gavin Newsom in this position now.

Formerly promoted as one of the Next Big Things, Newsom is currently taking a battering from all sides. The national attention he’s getting now is negative. COVID is spiking. And a recall petition drive that was supposed to be a moon-shot, is suddenly not only well funded, but a reasonable bet to make it on the ballot.

A thoughtful and elegant takedown by Politico's Carla Marinucci and David Siders lays it out nicely.

Newsom, of the 60 percent approval rating in 2019, who won California by 24 points, is facing the crisis of his governorship, maybe his political career.

Always a fan of the grand gesture, Newsom has responded with cash and commissions. Two billion dollars proposed to help re-open elementary schools. A blue-ribbon panel of experts to address vaccine distribution. Checks to low income Californians to help the economy.

And having planned all that, you know what would hit the spot? An uber-expensive, indoor dinner at French Laundry. Or to put it another way, exactly what you just told everyone not to do.

The head-smacking cluelessness is still amazing. If you could have designed a diorama representing every suspicion middle America has about big government — wealthy snobs who are too corrupt to follow their own rules — this would be it.

It was too easy to point to, and it made Newsom a perfect target.

Meanwhile, after early success, the virus clobbered California. After getting kudos for being pro-active, Newsom and the state are suddenly the big red, virus-infected state on the national map.

This week officials said California had a record number of deaths (1,163) over the two-day weekend. ICU rooms in southern California reported they had zero capacity. And mortuaries in the south said they have been forced to turn away families because they have no room.

So there’s a reason Newsom is feeling the heat. Not that he hasn’t had a rough series of event. From wildfires to Black Lives Matter to COVID, it’s been rough sledding to start the Newsom Era.

As former governor (and recall victim) Gray Davis tells Politico, “Nobody has been dealt a tougher hand than Gavin Newsom.”

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The question is: what to do now? You’ve got the economy, schools and public health.

It’s a trick question. There’s really only one problem — the Coronavirus.

Newsom has tried the other two. He closed the schools early last spring and then worked hard to get them back open. But public schools are the quicksand of politics. Step right in, but it won’t be long before you’re sinking into the bureaucratic morass.

The teacher’s unions are not on board with going back to the classroom — even if they’ve been vaccinated. You can make your own call on that choice, but without the teachers — who may also be thinking of a pay raise? — school is a no go. Put a pin in that, we’ll get back.

One thing Newsom actually could do is reconsider outdoor dining. As the strapped restaurant owners and workers have said, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of data showing that cases spiked when outdoor dining was allowed. Nor that it decreased when it was banned. In fact, it has gone up.

It wouldn’t just be a lifeline to people hoping to save their life’s work. It is just a good thing to have people on the street, to feel less like a ghost town.

But let’s face it, with these infection numbers, opening up outdoor dining would be impossible to defend. You can’t do it in the midst of the worst days of this pandemic.

That leaves vaccinations. And that’s the right choice. As usual, government and scientific types probably overthought the rollout of vaccines.

I believe there were 37 (I may be off on that) tiers for qualification for the vaccine — further broken down alphabetically and then by number. It is mind-boggling.

And we weren’t the only ones. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened anyone who got a shot outside of their tier with prosecution. There were reports that some facilities had thrown away doses rather than risk giving them to non-qualified recipients.

That, and measures like it, created a bottleneck. As this SF Gate story shows California has the most vaccines of any state, but has only used 27 percent of them. South Dakota is vaccinating at a rate almost five times per 100,000 of California.

This has to change. It has got to be all-out, roll-up-your sleeve, if you want a shot, here you go.

And like New York, California is becoming much less stringent.

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Newsom has now vowed to vaccinate 1 million people by Sunday.

Good. That’s the direction out of this for two reasons. First, every vaccinated person increases the general health of the population.

And second, remember when COVID became a thing? We all asked each other, do you know anyone who has gotten it? Sadly, now we probably all do.

But that made it real. I’m feeling the same way about the vaccine. I am hearing of people I know getting it.

It’s the first positive thing I’ve heard about this pandemic in months.

It’s about time.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Suggestions and compliments welcome, criticism not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius