Bipartisanship At Its Best

When the polio vaccine came out in the mid-fifties, many people were suspicious about its safety until Elvis Presley volunteered to be vaccinated on live television - and he did get vaccinated, on Ed Sullivan's variety show.  It sent a powerful message - if the world's most revered rock and roll star didn't have a problem with the polio vaccine, no one else should either. The result? Millions of people got vaccinated and polio was all but eradicated.

Now we have COVID-19, and new vaccines that can end the pandemic are slowly coming out, yet only a bare majority of Americans have confidence in their safety.  NBC News' Brian Williams has suggested that a revered pop-culture figure like Elvis ought to take the COVID vaccine to show how effective it is.  The sad fact, though, is that there is no revered pop-culture figure like Elvis, our popular culture being just as fragmented as our politics.

Think about it.  If Beyoncé gets the vaccine on live TV, folks in the so-called red states will think that white liberals and minorities trust the government too much, and they won't get it.  If a country singer like Brad Paisley or Kenny Chesney gets the vaccine on live TV, folks in the so-called blue states will think that country-loving Trump supporters are politicizing the vaccine, and they won't get it.  And if Maroon 5's Adam Levine gets the vaccine - on "The Voice" - no one will get it, because Adam Levine is a blooming idiot!

And if the guys in the rock band Greta Van Fleet volunteer to get the vaccine on live TV, people will react by saying, "Greta Van Fleet? Who the hell is she?"  (The sad truth is, current rockers are even more irrelevant than classic rockers.)

Also, there's no one TV show that everyone watches in this 500-channel universe.

So who would be willing to get the COVID vaccine on live television once it becomes available for people under 80?

How about three of our four living ex-Presidents?

Bill Clinton, George Walker Bush, and Barack Obama have all volunteered to get the COVID vaccine on live television as soon as it's available in order to prove its safety and effectiveness and encourage the rest of us to get it.  It's a true bipartisan effort.  It's also a significant one, because they represent all sides of the political and cultural spectrum, and as (until January 20, 2021) the only living Republican ex-President, Bush has a special role here.  As President, he instigated a blueprint for a national strategy to plan for a pandemic back in 2005 - a strategy Trump ignored.  I wouldn't be surprised if the three ex-Presidents got their wives to take the vaccine on live TV - especially Michelle Obama, because everyone loves Michelle Obama.

Look, we have to do something to get people to take the vaccine, because this is the only way to end the pandemic and get back to normal by at least this time next year. Otherwise, we'll have to keep walking into banks looking like we're about to rob them.  We'll have to continue staying six feet apart from each other.  And we'll have to keep washing our hands twenty times a day until our skin cracks open from all that excessive washing.  Small businesses will keep going under, we won't be able to gather for parties,  we'll have to keep wiping down groceries, we won't have any more concerts (or whatever passes for concerts in popular "music" these days), and we'll all have to learn how to use Zoom to see our relatives - and after trying Zoom, I gave up on it because it was so complicated.  Come on, people - do you really want to live like this for the rest of your lives?  As for me, I don't need any ex-Presidents to encourage me to get the vaccine. Give it to me, already!  As soon as it's ready, I'll take it! I'll be first in line!  I want my life back! This year was going to be one of my best ever because of all the things I had planned to do in 2020, and it ended up being my absolute worst year ever!  I'm sure it was your worst year ever, too.  So come on, everyone - what do you have to lose?

The one thing that could seal the deal for the COVID vaccine is if Joe Biden takes it too once he's President.  The one thing that could ruin efforts to get people to take it is if Trump takes it - because Trump is the reason a lot of people don't trust the vaccine.

I'm only sorry that Elvis - who would have been 86 this coming January - isn't around to take it.