The president and first lady brought a bunch of their children, grandchildren and significant other to their island getaway for Thanksgiving – along with the Secret Service, a small group of staff and reporters go with the president – seek to send a signal to the rest of the country that it is time to return to the traditions that have been ignored in 2020.
They went through the Thanksgiving routine: They feasted with family on Thursday before walking through Nantucket on Friday, dining at a local restaurant and shopping at the stores they visited. for decades before attending the town’s Christmas tree lighting. The president tweeted in support of small businesses and restaurants Friday, making good on his pledge to shop small during his walk that afternoon.
As the Bidens smiled through their Thanksgiving tradition, the harsh reality of Covid-19’s unpredictability disrupted Black Friday celebrations. Reports of a new Omicron variant of the virus – B.1.1.529, discovered in South Africa – have alarmed scientists and the Biden administration. As South African officials informed the World Health Organization on Friday, a new wave of travel restrictions had been imposed abroad as countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan moved fast. unusually quick to impose a new travel ban on South Africa and other countries in the region.
The stock slide, reports of cases of the new variant emerging in many other countries around the world, and travel restrictions in the affected countries gave echoes of the early days of the pandemic. rather than the optimistic view the administration has sought to predict over the past few weeks. News from southern Africa has turned Biden’s annual trip to Nantucket from a signal of better days to a message that the nation’s new normal can be preserved – at least for the time being. until now.
Biden and his team see effectively addressing the pandemic as the only way for the economy to improve and for the President to restore his political fortunes. Questions are now being raised about how the administration will handle the new variant and its economic devastation, as federal health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci warn that there is much to learn about how it spreads and how vaccines can fight it.
The continuing economic downturn from the pandemic – which is still far from past this week – was evident in both Wall Street and the seaside town where the Bidens broke bread.
Conversations with local business owners and workers across Nantucket highlight the growing economic disparity between summer residents and the many islanders who live here year-round. That gap has been exacerbated by the pandemic and led to inflation, supply chain problems, labor shortages and a lack of affordable housing.
Richard Vargas, a manager at Murray’s Beverage Store, on the town’s main street, told CNN the labor shortages mean he’s seeing businesses struggling “to get enough people out here to work. jobs, people who want to go to work, and supplies to be able to provide services to everyone on the island.”
“There are a lot of hard-working people here,” he says — many of whom, he explains, hold at least two jobs to pay the rising cost of rent and food.
“We know a lot of people want to come back this year but can’t because they can’t get visas. It’s just absolute madness – like all the shops along here, any business Any business here, they say the same thing: They can’t get enough help,” Vargas said.
Biden is staying at the home of billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein, a sprawling waterfront complex. But on an island often described as “elite”, “tony” or “luxurious”, the economic concerns affecting the nation are deeply felt among those that keep the place afloat – housekeepers, waiters, chefs, hotel butlers, store employees.
Concerns about the wealth gap on the island were echoed by local business owners during the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce’s “Business After Hours” happy hour on Wednesday night, with one attendee describing “the different Nantucket economy” of the rich, privileged and of those who support their way of life.
But for the Bidens, this year’s trip is meant to be a symbol for the country where Americans can enjoy the holiday traditions that the coronavirus prevented them from experiencing last year. The maidens spent Thanksgiving on Nantucket for 46 years. It’s where the President spent his first Thanksgiving with Jill Biden and where his late son, Beau, and son Hunter encouraged him to run for president in 2016.
“This year, Thanksgiving wishes are especially meaningful,” the President said in a video message released Thursday.
The first lady added, “After being apart last year, we have a new appreciation for the little moments that we could not have planned or recreated.”
.
