Symbolism the Pandemic Is Ending

Jonathan Bernstein: “The symbolism of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris sitting behind Biden without masks was perhaps more important than the words Biden used.”

“Political scientists rarely find evidence of presidential speeches changing minds, but it’s at least possible that some Democratic viewers who have grown pessimistic about the coronavirus during the delta and omicron waves may take both the words and the symbolism as encouragement to start feeling better about it.”