OBAMA ENDORSES BIDEN: THE 2020 CAMPAIGN NOW BEGINS FOR REAL.

ICHEOKU says interesting, except that all the encomiums which he poured on Joe Biden as eruditely qualifies him for president, were all supposedly still in Joe Biden when Barack Obama advised him not to run for president. Recall the Obama's infamous, "Joe, don't do it" remark to Joe Biden when he intimated Obama about his intention to run for the office. So, what changed now or did Joe Biden's alleged promise to run with a woman vice presidential candidate, particularly one named Michelle Obama, changed the calculus. But hey, no amount of endorsements ever make a candidate president. For most part, it is still a self wrought achievement and anyone in doubt should ask Queen Crooked Hillary Clinton why she is not in the White House today, despite her gazillion endorsements. 

In 2016, the same Barack Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton and campaigned for her as a sitting president with all the levers of the office, yet somebody else won the 2016's presidency. So what weight anyone attaches to Barack Obama's endorsement of his former Vice President Joe Biden is as weighty as that person wants it to be; but it is not broadly the proverbial silver bullet that will shoot down President Donald John Trump's 2020 reelection bid. Joe Biden has to literary earn it by himself. If indeed Joe Biden wants to be president, Joe Biden has to work for it; as nobody who does not want to vote for Joe Biden will now say because of Obama's endorsement, he or she will vote for him. Also there is nobody who wants to vote for President Donald John Trump who will now say because of the Obama's endorsement, he or she will no longer vote for Trump. 

It is a fact of consequence that President Donald John Trump's presidency was a rejection of the Obama/Biden administration, which many Americans found wanting and did not want it to continue. The litany of reasons for their disillusion at their presidency is very lengthy, including the infamous Iran nuclear deal and the $150 billion that allegedly exchanged hands. So what changed within four years to now merit their rehabilitation with an ushering back into the White House. Anyway, ICHEOKU shall leave the full excavation of the tomb of the Obama/Biden's ineptitude for later days of the campaign, as this write up is only about the endorsement which finally came. Now the battle begins for the votes of American people on who they would rather have at the tiller of State at this time of great peril in the land, both from the Coronavirus contagion and an economy on life support.

AN ENDORSEMENT ON HATRED IS NO ENDORSEMENT.

ICHEOKU says Bernie Sanders in endorsing Joe Biden did not highlight the qualities which make Joe Biden a better candidate than himself and why Joe Biden is the right candidate. He spewed a lot of hogwash about the president, including not knowing why the president has not acted on the Defense Production Act. 

ICHEOKU says but how would he know what the president has done so far when he is hunkered down inside his basement, shielding himself from the coronavirus while the president is working tirelessly hard to tame the contagion. Anyway, nobody will vote for Joe Biden because Bernie Sanders told them to, so with an endorsement like that, nobody needs any endorsement. Meanwhile, he did not consult Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez before the decision.

SANDERS SURRENDERS THE DREAM: BLAME ANOTHER BOTCHED PRIMARIES.

ICHEOKU says he fumbled the ball bigly, so the end which finally came was not unexpected. Rather, the fact that he waited until now to announce it was the surprise. He was not gutsy enough to do what it would have taken to secure the nomination of a party which does not like him, does not want him and which treats him as an outsider. They did it to him previously in 2016 and now they have done it again to him this 2020. 

As an insurgent candidate, he needed the audacity of a daredevil but unfortunately, he does not have the DNA of a real insurgent in him. The 2020 Democratic Party's presidential primaries was his to lose and he lost it. His approach was faulty, he went on the Mr NiceGuy route, either because he underestimated the strength of the amassed enemies against him, was too confident of a victory or did not in fact want to win the nomination. He was too circumspect in going after his opponent and campaigned as if the contest was a family affair in which, win or lose, it is ok with him. He did not decisively distinguish himself as the only candidate that merits the nomination. Instead of seeking to demolish Joe Biden, he busied himself attacking the president, forgetting that he had to first win the nomination. 

He was overly cautious, restrained, reluctant and gun-shy to go after Joe Biden, the obvious choice of the Democratic Party's establishment. It left many people wondering if indeed he was serious about securing the nomination, viewed against the background of his experience of 2016. He failed or rather refused to take a page from then candidate Donald John Trump's 2016 Republican primaries campaign, particularly how he went after the party's establishment favored candidate Jeb Bush. It was an all out war, a bare-knuckle fight to death. But he chose a different path, the I am a nice guy and Joe is a nice guy too route, which has now cost him the nomination. 

Bernie Sanders should have advised himself more properly that going up against a party's establishment candidate would require a take no prisoner type of campaign. That it demanded the type of ruthlessness that overcomes the will to carry on, but he feigned ignorance. The primaries campaign asked for bloodbath, but he was woozy. It demanded an AK47, but he took a pocket knife to the fight. It required scalping his opponent, but he merely nibbled at his ankle. In being so measured, he thought it would earn him respect, but it attracted odium and ridicule, as the Democratic Party neither respects nor fears him. The party machine was turned against him and vanquished, he is now just another casualty of the 2020 Democratic Party primaries, hurriedly endorsing his former opponent. 

As it was in 2016 against Hillary Clinton when Bernie Sanders stayed off the "damn emails", so it was in this 2020 as he once again failed to pounce on Joe Biden's many inadequacies including his lack of mental capacity for the office, his son, Hunter Biden's shady dealings with BURISMA and China. He was presented with two golden opportunities but he severally failed to utilize them and they cost him the nomination on two occasions. It is politics and politics is war, but Bernie Sanders went to sleep when he should have stayed wide awake firing on all cylinders. He could have won Hillary Clinton in 2016 if he had pursued her emails burden and he could have also upended Joe Biden's campaign this 2020 if he had pounced on his mental capacity and his son's corruption, but he blew both chances up. 

It is so unfortunate that Bernie Sanders gave up so easily without considering the fate of millions of his supporters who have invested so much in his promised new America of free stuff and redistribution of wealth. At the frenzied stage which he worked them to, the campaign was no longer just about him alone. He should have fought as if his life depended on it, aware that millions of people have invested their hopes heavily on a successful outcome of the campaign. But not Bernie Sanders, who seems to be in it for himself alone. He played it safe and was scared stiff of dueling to death with the Democratic Party on behalf of his supporters and for their benefit. 

Bernie Sanders knew that he is not a bona fide member of the Democratic Party and that the guardians of the Democratic Party does not want him as their party's presidential candidate. He was also aware that the primaries was not necessarily between him and Joe Biden, but between him and the Democratic Party's establishment; yet he did not act with the urgency to summarily vanquish Joe Biden during the campaign and debates. This message was clearly transmitted to him with his win in only 3 out of the 14 Super Tuesday States. A matter which clearly resonated because Joe Biden's campaign was broke going into Super Tuesday, it had no field offices nor advertised in any of the 14 States, yet he trounced Bernie Sanders. Short of a miracle or the Democratic Party giving marching orders to those States to deliver their votes to Joe Biden, the feat was not humanly possible. 

It is regrettable that some special interests have hijacked American democracy and no longer allows the wishes of the American people to prevail in elections. It happens in both parties, although the Republican Party is somewhat more discreet about their own internal manipulations. ICHEOKU is emphatic that had then candidate Donald John Trump ran under the Democratic Party in 2016, they would not have allowed him to win the nomination. How a political party can so openly take side with one candidate against the other candidate, both of who were gunning for the party's presidential nomination, is simply beyond rational understanding. It is not fair and it is condemnable and should be condemned by every democracy loving person in America. 

But Bernie Sanders, instead of vociferously condemning the gang up against him and threatening a third party Independent run, he coiled up in surrender. How can the Democratic Party stop such internal meddling with the nomination process when they have not suffered any consequence such as breaking up of the party. But Bernie Sanders is not type of warrior, so he buckled, surrendered the dream and has now even endorsed Joe Biden. Why endorse a candidate chosen by a Party he once called intellectually bankrupt party; a party which have twice now denied him the nomination. What was all the noise about remaking America in the eyes of Bernie Sanders which he sold to his impassioned supporters if this is how it all ended. At 78 years old, this campaign will probably be the last America will ever hear about a presidential candidate named Bernie Sanders and you ask yourself, why did he not make it count. 

Such a reluctance by Bernie Sanders to do bloody battle is the reason Hillary Clinton does not respect him and loathes him so much. Why excite millions of people with a promise of a new deal only to now dash their dreams without going to the end of the earth to state his position because of them. That he lacks the killer instinct to take out his opponents is another unfortunate characteristics for any politician to have. Hillary Clinton celebrated the day Bernie Sanders gave her a lifeline during their debate in 2016 with his now infamous aside "everyone is tired of the damn emails" statement. Since that failure to pounce moment, Hillary Clinton never regarded Bernie Sanders as a good political operator and publicly chastised him as an incompetent politician who nobody likes. Now more people will be added to that list because of his betrayal of the progressivism cause. 

Everybody knows that Bernie Sanders did not lose the primaries but was schemed out of  it by the Democratic Party's establishment, which does not want to lose the control of their party to an outsider, who is not even a member of the party. Former Governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, a democrat, publicly confirmed this when he said that the notion that Bernie Sanders would be allowed to lead the national Democratic Party is repugnant, because he is not a Democrat. So if the Democratic Party denied him the nomination because he is not a member of the Party, what then is Bernie Sanders still doing in the Party, trying to help them achieve victory. Why should Bernie Sanders care whether they win or lose? 

ICHEOKU says one good turn deserves another and one bad turn deserves another, so Bernie Sanders should have seriously considered a third party Independent run. Win or lose, it will be a way of exerting his pound of flesh and telegraphing the message that he knew what they did. He should have become the Ross Perot and Ralph Nader of 2020, but unfortunately they got him to both end his campaign and also to endorse Joe Biden. What a wasted time with Bernie Sanders his supporters must feel now, even Moses did not do such to the people of Israelites. But Bernie, he is there for himself and he acted as any compromised sellout would, which shows that he was not down with the struggle. On a hindsight, may be Elizabeth Warren would have been a better leader of the progressives.

IT'S EASTER: CHRIST HAS RISEN.

ICHEOKU says lets celebrate his victory over death and hopefully it will also spell our victory over the deadly Coronavirus contagion. Although it is supposed to be a time for rejoicing, but the death, agony and fear in the land have tempered it down and cast a pall over it. Let us pray that the Risen Christ will intervene and help save humanity from the continuing torment IJN.

CORONAVIRUS: SCAPEGOATING WET MARKETS IS NOT THE ANSWER.

ICHEOKU says nearly more than half of the world's population operate one form of wet market or the other in their respective countries. Many religions adherents like Jews, Muslims and traditionalists prefer kosher, halal and freshly killed meats. This is mainly cultural as many people like to eat freshly killed meat and not meat processed in factories, infused with additives, as is mostly obtained in Western countries. The reason for this practice varies from cultural practice passed on from generations unto generations for thousands of years, lack of refrigeration and above all the infrequent power supply in some countries which makes the preservation of meat difficult, if not impossible. 

In America, there are also many wet markets operated by people from other cultures who  call America home, including in China Towns, Jewish neighborhoods, African and Caribbean neighborhoods, Mexican and Philippines societies, as well as Muslim society that operate Halal meat markets. Some other Americans sometimes go to ranch animal farms to kill cows, goats, lambs and chicken for their fresh meats and those slaughter houses could somehow pass for wet markets too. In Louisiana for example, people eat all sorts of swamp creatures which in so many other cultures would be considered a taboo. American people love their cow meats but Indians do not touch cow which they consider sacred; but they have not asked Americans to stop killing and eating beef. 

So, why must America now tell China what meats to eat and how to process those meats. Why should America ask China to close down their wet markets which have been part of their cultural delicacy source for thousands of years, just because coronavirus allegedly broke out from one of them in Wuhan. If in fact coronavirus broke out in the wet market, why only in Wuhan's wet market since similar wet markets abound everywhere in China and in other Asian countries including their neighboring Taiwan. Why did coronavirus not break out in other Chinese cities's wet markets and in other countries that similarly operate wet markets. It is not right and America does not have the authority to tell other countries what to eat or how to source their meat products. 

Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence that coronavirus suddenly broke out in a wet market which has operated for hundreds, if not thousands of years in Wuhan. America must therefore stop forcing its standards on other countries and cultures because living standards is not a one cap fits all. America can afford its high standards including picking and choosing what meats to eat, how to process and preserve them because it has the capacity to do so. But how many other poor countries in the world can afford a similar lifestyle, when most of them are struggling for survival, including many impoverished nations which does not have constant electricity supply to power storage freezers, when they can afford them. 

ICHEOKU says therefore the talk to force China to close down wet markets in Wuhan or any other Chinese city is a none starter and should not even be wasted any time on. Wuhan is not the first place ever to suffer an outbreak of a viral killer disease. Many other countries did and their culprit cultural practices were not shutdown as a result. Saudi Arabian's love for camels was not closed down following MERS outbreak; people did not stop eating pork and bacon following the H1N1 Swine flu; Hong Kong was not shut down following its 1968 flu; people did not stop eating chicken following the Avian or Bird flu either. When Ebola struck, the Ebola river was not shut down and people still call Lyme Connecticut home despite the Lyme disease. So why is China being asked to surrender their wet markets? 

When mad cow disease broke out in America, people did not abandon their steak and barbecue or sandwiches as a result. Even countries like Japan and South Korea that stopped importing United States of America beef and other related cow meat products were strong armed into reversing themselves. Therefore what is so different now about what a people have been eating for centuries that should now require compelling them to end it forthwith. A matter made more troubling because there is no conclusive proof yet that the current coronavirus disease originated from a type of meat people of Wuhan eat or a Wet Market which they operate in Wuhan China. 

The best practice going forward is to first conclusively investigate all the other angles being bandied around as to actual originating source in Wuhan of the coronavirus disease, including a theory that it came from a biological weapons laboratory near the wet market. Then find a vaccine that would inoculate people from it and other medicines that would treat those people that are already infected by the disease. Thereafter, let people be allowed to carry on with their cultural practices including eating whatever meats their palate feels joyful eating. But it is repugnant to order any country or people to end their eating habits which has been with them for thousands of years just because a flu allegedly came from it. Enough of the wielding of the big stick.

LINDA TRIPP: THE SNITCH IS DEAD.

ICHEOKU says the world of the honored, the trusted and the confidential will not miss her, otherwise ask Monica Lewinsky how her life was ruined because her supposed friend turned out to be a slithering snitch who deserved stitches. Monica Lewinsky rudely found out, albeit too late, that with a friend like Linda Tripp she never needed an enemy. 

The back stabbing Linda Tripp's infamous betrayal of her friend Monica Lewinsky over the affair with President Bill Clinton will remain her only lasting legacy or rather notoriety, as a Judas Iscariot of that era. Linda Tripp died of pancreatic cancer; she was 70 years old. May her snitching soul now rest and never to snitch again. Adieu Linda Snitch Tripp. 

CORONAVIRUS: BEST WISHES TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

ICHEOKU says provided it was for the stated reason of causing panic on the Aircraft carrier and sending the alarming letter on a blast email and not following the chain of command protocol, the action of the Navy was well founded. Also by so doing, the captain alerted American enemies of America's vulnerability and he shouldn't have done that. But the now removed Captain Brett Crozier is from Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi's liberal San Francisco and might be pushing an agenda as well. 

A matter made more compelling because the letter was leaked to his San Francisco hometown newspaper, The Chronicle, which published it. Who knows whether he is even a Trump hating homosexual gayman out to embarrass the president and his government's effort at tackling the Coronavirus pandemic. Anyway, he was only removed from his post and will be redeployed elsewhere, not that he was fired from the Navy. Speedy recovery to those infected and Hod's speed as they continue to discharge their duties to America.

CORONAVIRUS: WE SHALL OVERCOME!

The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future. We are Americans and together we are tackling the Coronavirus disease and if we remain united and resolute, we shall overcome it. - ICHEOKU  says a paraphrased Queen's COVID 19 speech as applied to America.

CORONAVIRUS: QUEEN ELIZABETH REASSURES HER SUBJECTS.

"I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time. A time of disruption in the life of our country: a disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all. 

I want to thank everyone on the NHS front line, as well as care workers and those carrying out essential roles, who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all. I am sure the nation will join me in assuring you that what you do is appreciated and every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to more normal times. 

I also want to thank those of you who are staying at home, thereby helping to protect the vulnerable and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones. Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it. 

I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future. 

The moments when the United Kingdom has come together to applaud its care and essential workers will be remembered as an expression of our national spirit; and its symbol will be the rainbows drawn by children. 

Across the Commonwealth and around the world, we have seen heart-warming stories of people coming together to help others, be it through delivering food parcels and medicines, checking on neighbours, or converting businesses to help the relief effort. 

And though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths, and of none, are discovering that it presents an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect, in prayer or meditation. 

It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones. But now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do. 

While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us. 

We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again. 

But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all." 

CORONAVIRUS AMERICA: JOE BIDEN NOT THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

ICHEOKU says thankfully he is not in charge at present and American people will not put him in charge any time soon either. The problems facing the country are simply far too weighty for his frail, mumbling self to muster. So, nobody will over task him by asking him to do more than his weak feeble body can do. His near senility, evidenced by the incoherency of words laboriously coming out of his mouth does not help matters either. These are true but hard difficult facts of his present debilitated state of affairs and such a person is not a material for the presidency of the United States of America, especially not with the current challenges facing the nation. 

Joe Biden is struggling through words and sentences; he often times appears lost and confused, unaware of self and presence; and he can hardly support himself on the strength of his own sinew for a long period of time. How such a heavily depreciated man, both mentally and physically, can pilot the affairs of the State, especially at this time of great tribulation which has also destroyed the economy is beyond comprehension. Further, there will be a rebuilding of the economy which will follow soon after the pandemic is put under control, which will require so much energy and vibrancy which Joe Biden no longer possesses. 

Joe Biden can hardly save himself from the contagion, talk-less of saving America. Instead of being up in the front leading the charge, he is hunkered down inside a sterilized, pseudo-bunker basement in his home in Wilmington issuing those sorry snippets of possible solutions. He has no capacity whatsoever to lead the fight against the Coronavirus nor the subsequent economic rebuilding of a nation that is in near economic paralysis. Thankfully, he is not in the White House now, otherwise, the helluva crisis would have been too much for him to handle and completely overwhelmed him by now. His days are over, long gone with age, frailty and early signs of dementia. 

Anyone denying the obvious is either living in fool's paradise or is unable to save him or herself from the catastrophic fate facing the Democratic Party and their putative presidential candidate nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden. The sorry sight which he has become, holed in inside his basement, where he struggles through his brief television and social media appearances, in fact make him look like a hostage needing a rescue, rather than a presidential candidate coming to the rescue of American people. Those images made a bad situation even worse, as it boosted a grim reality of a mission impossible of Joe Biden ever becoming president. Not in this life, especially not with the double whammy of a problem, the Coronavirus pandemic and crashed economic, facing America. 

America is facing the greatest challenge of its life and only a true leader with presence of mind, grit and guts can help America overcome. Such a leader will be needed post Coronavirus to help motivate Americans back to doing what they do best, rebuilding a nation and an economy on bended knees. Joe Biden is not that leader as he neither motivates nor exudes confidence in anyone. He is also not in charge of his affairs or in full capacity of his mind to command the presence and authority that will be needed going forward. The image of him in that his basement enclave is so touching that even one writer dubbed him the invisible man; wondering how a General leading a war against an enemy could lead his army into battle from a hidden bunker so far away from the theatre of war. 

A reassuring Joe Biden would have established an office in Washington DC, furnished with all the paraphernalia of a president including majestic American flags, and from there contemporaneously marshal his own talking points and daily briefings on the Coronavirus as the president does his own from the White House. But inside a basement does not do it for anybody; it does not give anybody hope nor confidence that help could come from such a place. The image gives the impression that it is Joe Biden who actually needs being rescued from the Coronavirus pandemic than the one offering to rescue American people from it. Image is everything and in this case, Joe Biden and his team bungled it big time. 

Even the quality of the video production is mediocre, both audio and visual; and you ask yourself why don't they have it on a few seconds delay, instead of always going live. Better still, they can create edited feeds of it to show or hire a voice over artist to deliver the statements while Joe Biden mimes it. A good artistic director can be hired to produce it. Joe Biden seems to be in an entirely different world than the rest of American people, as he continuously suggests as solutions to the pandemic, doing things which the president has already done. 

As one writer put it, "someone really needs to let Joe Biden give the whole thing up already", and ICHEOKU says agrees completely with the astute writer. Simply put, Joe Biden is not rightly suited for the job, not any more; not when he cannot even read a prepared written text in bold letters right in front of him. Please let Joe Biden's family intervene to spare him the odium of his present self. He needs to be sequestrated from the public and let him go take a well deserved and rightly earned rest from his over fifty years of meritorious service to the nation. Enough of the sorry, pitiful sights of a Joe Biden that is practically a ghostly apparition of his once ebullient self.

MICHAEL ATKISON FIRED!

ICHEOKU says way to go Mr President as the continuing house cleaning goes on despite the fight against Coronavirus. This is exactly what walking and chewing gum is all about; such that the government is continuously running despite the amount of time being spent on the fight to save American people from the scourge of the Chinese Wuhan disease aka Coronavirus. 

The now former Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, Michael Atkinson, was an insider, a member of the Washington DC Deep State anti Trump establishment. The manner in which he handled the Ukrainian whistle blower that led to the hoax impeachment of the president was definitely below par. So, it was not surprised that his job went with it.

Anyway, he is now gone and hopefully the country can continue healing from the scavengers that nearly ruined it for everyone, a group of who tried to undo an election by removing a duly elected president of the United States of America. The purification and cleansing of the government continues as another one bites the dust. Good riddance. So long Mike.

CORONAVIRUS: GET THE HELL OUT OF MY COUNTRY.

ICHEOKU says behold the hardest working president America have seen within the recent many years. There is no other president America would rather wish is in the White House at this perilous time of onerous challenge, leading the battle against the Chinese Wuhan disease aka Coronavirus. Who else is best suited to lead the war on Coronavirus than a fighter president, who is not afraid of pugiling and so far, is throwing counter punches at the Coronavirus. ICHEOKU says thank you President Donald John Trump for manning up against the Coronavirus and God willing, victory shall be his in no distant time. God's speed Mr President.

CORONAVIRUS: POSTPONE THE NOVEMBER 3RD ELECTION 2020.

ICHEOKU says a lot of campaigning time has been lost to the Chinese Wuhan disease aka Coronavirus by the presidential candidates. They should therefore be compensated for the loss of such valuable time, which was not a fault of theirs. The Coronavirus should be treated as a force majeure, entitling the candidates to an extension of campaign time. 

American people have not heard sufficient information on the candidates' policy positions, on things dear to them, as a result of the sudden cessation of campaigning by the candidates. Information which would have enabled them to properly assess the candidates and determine who is better suited for the office and which one of them would represent their interests best, as president. 

This is the reason America's presidential election campaign season lasts for a long period of time; to enable the candidates have reasonable amount of time to take their messages across to the American people, in various constituencies and so many corners of a very vast country. It is during this period that American voters interact with the candidates, through various forums such as town halls, campaign stops, campaign events and also watch them on television as they continuously interview for the job in question and answer sessions with reporters, debates and other media pressers. 

As American people watch and listen to the candidates, they make informed assessments on their suitability for the office, who represents their values most and who will protect their values best. Without the presidential campaign running its full course, American people will not have a fair assessment of the candidates to enable them make a well considered choice as to who to elect president. Instead, they will be hoodwinked into voting for a candidate who they would otherwise not have voted for were the candidates to be fully assessed. The shortened campaign period caused by the Coronavirus, has made it impossible for the American people to fully assess the candidates, as it has deprived them the much needed time to do so. 

The presidential candidates on the other hand, have not had enough time to market themselves to the American people as being the best qualified and most suitable for the office, because they were forced to suspend their campaigns because of the Coronavirus. Therefore great injustice will be done to them, especially to the candidate who could have ordinarily marketed himself better to the American people, but was shortchanged and denied the opportunity to do so by the intervention of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Electing a candidate by default of what was known about him before the Coronavirus outbreak, without giving the other candidate a full opportunity to make his case to the American people, will be a great disservice to American democracy, especially the electoral system which usually elects the better of the two candidates as president. The opportunity to do an extensive campaign, which allows candidates to penetrate into the hearts and minds of American people, must not be denied the candidates, especially an otherwise would have been preferred candidate but for the short campaign period. What happened was not their fault; they did not cause the Coronavirus and should therefore their campaigns should not be shortchanged as a result. They should be accorded the full opportunity to make their case to the American people by giving them extra months to campaign to make up for the lost time. 

The Coronavirus disease should be treated as an act of God which intervened to distort both the campaign and the election. Nobody anticipated nor foresaw it coming, but now that it has struck, we must adjust things to meet the cruel hand dealt by it, including the November 3rd 2020 presidential election. Elections do not have to be on the first Tuesday in November of an election year certain; although the practice, but it is not inviolably set in stone. It can and should, under the circumstances we are faced with, be adjusted as would in any other onerous intervening event. The killer-virus now ravaging the country should be treated as such impossible to perform circumstance and necessary accommodations made alongside to postpone the coming presidential election. 

If the 2020 summer Olympics in Japan could be postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic; ditto elections in North Macedonia, Serbia, Poland, London's mayoral and other local elections, Spain's Basque Country and Galicia, Bolivia's presidential election, many States primaries, ICHEOKU says does not see why the November 3rd 2020 America's presidential election cannot and should not be similarly postponed as well. 

The president for example, instead of going to his regularly scheduled sold out campaign events to remind voters why he should be reelected for a second term on November 3rd  2020, has been holed up in the White House tackling the Coronavirus problem. Although he is doing a good job with the task, but the President Donald John Trump we know, would rather be mesmerizing crowds of Trump faithfuls in his usually sold out campaign arenas, rehashing his accomplishments during the last three years plus of his presidency. 

But instead of doing what he likes best, going to these celebratory campaign events to savor the applause and adulation of his supporters, the president is now bogged down in the White House, working tirelessly to protect and defend American people from the onslaught of the Coronavirus. A virus which sucker punched his strongest campaign talking point, the then flourishing but now vanquished economy in comatose. Nobody in his shoes would like the cruel fate which the Coronavirus dealt him, admitted he is powering through it and doing the best anybody could wish for under such a dire unforeseen circumstance. The president's chances at reelection is still strong because the circumstances was not caused by him and American people have seen him working harder than the once hardest working man in America, the late James Brown. 

On the other side is Joe Biden, the putative presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, admitted Bernie Sanders is still hanging in there but the end game is as good as determined, whose campaign has become hamstrung by the Coronavirus as well. Former Vice President Joe Biden cannot go on his usual campaign tours on 'No Malarky Express' bus any more because of the Coronavirus. At his very advanced and frail old age, his susceptibility to the Coronavirus disease is much heightened and he needs to protect himself more carefully. Also, the image of his campaigning for election amidst such a national disaster will cut a picture of an uncaring soul and American people do not like heartless people to be in their White House. A caring Joe from Scranton who rode the Amtrak from Delaware to Washington DC regularly happens to be his strongest suit and he wouldn't want to soil it now. 

ICHEOKU says Joe Biden deserves his full press court on the campaign trail to market himself to the corners of America where he is not necessarily a household name. He should therefore, like the incumbent President Donald John Trump who is seeking a reelection, be compensated for the loss of campaign time. Like the president, Joe Biden also needs his full campaign time but for a different reason, to try and convince American people on why they should replace the incumbent president with him. A tough task to accomplish under normal circumstances as incumbent presidents most times get reelected, but which is now made even tougher by the Coronavirus. American people have seen the president working so hard fighting the Coronavirus and the image of a frail Joe Biden does not augur well in the middle of the fight. Joe Biden, instead of leading the fight, needs to have himself protected from the virus. 

ICHEOKU says this extension of time being canvassed for does not have to be a full calendar year, such as moving the election to next November 9th 2021. No, it could be for few months depending on the agreement of both parties and as would compensate for the lost time. In fact, short of a pattern which was established over the many years since America started conducting presidential elections, there is nothing sacrosanct about the second Tuesday in November of an election year. The two major political parties can agree to defer the election to a later day and Congress can also decide today on when to hold the election, irrespective of the time honored tradition of holding it on the second Tuesday in November of an election year. In essence, any year can become an election year, ditto the month and the day. 

Each time President Donald John Trump is on television talking about the effort his administration is making to find a panacea to the Coronavirus affliction, he is technically campaigning for his reelection. American people are watching and judging his leadership ability and seeing the effort he is making to solve the pandemic and many are satisfied with what he is doing, especially his messaging. This is a huge disadvantage to Joe Biden, who has no such platform nor commands any other huge presence nationwide during this Coronavirus crisis to showcase his managerial skills for assessment. This deficit needs to be addressed and the only workable way to do it is by deferring the election to a much later date and long after a handle has been placed on the Coronavirus. That way, Joe Biden can have the time to play some catch up and of course both candidates will have their full time on the campaign trails. 

The presidential election of November 3rd 2020 should be postponed to such a future date as would be agreeable to the candidates and their political parties and if need be, ratified by the Congress. This will be for just this election and any other future times as an extraordinarily intervening circumstances might force a disruption of an election, thus making it impossible for the candidates to campaign in full. It is not too much to ask for and it is a better alternative to electing a president by default of lack of enough campaign period to fully assess the other candidate for the office. In fairness to both candidates President Donald John Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, this is the right thing to do. America needs to give them the additional campaign time to make up for the lost time due to the Coronavirus. If other countries could do it, why not the United States of America. #DeferTheNovember3rd202Election.

CORONAVIRUS: 200,000 DEATHS?

ICHEOKU says admitted there is something reassuring, watching and listening to Dr Anthony Fauci go about his now almost daily analysis of the rampaging Chinese Wuhan disease aka Coronavirus, which has turned him into a rockstar contagion specialist. But ICHEOKU was taken aback when he came up with the 200,000 likely deaths of Americans during the course of this pandemic. Although it is an estimate, but it seems to be needlessly on the high side, too far fetched, an overkill of some sort; possibly meant to put the fear of God into Americans, especially those who are not taking the Presidential Coronavirus Taskforce guidelines seriously. 

Based on what if ICHEOKU may ask, the death rate in other afflicted countries considered, including China, the origination point of the virus. As with Italy, ICHEOKU can understand why America's projected death rate could be higher than theirs. America's population is nearly six times that of Italy and ordinary statistical ratio could easily collaborate such disparity. But how about China with a population nearly five times America, why is their death rate far much lower than America's; unless the communist Chinese authority purposely played down their own figures. Why is Russia not suffering the same amount of affliction from the Coronavirus as America is currently suffering or is their own turn yet to come? Why is America with such a shockingly high number of possible deaths from a virus which did not start in America and which gave America some heads up before arriving on its shores? Was anything missed and if, what was it? 

A matter made worse because America is somewhat the big brother of the world and if America catches cold, the rest of the world panics because there will be no one to come to their rescue should they get into trouble. Now, who will rescue the rescuer or is it a case of healer, heal thyself? The times are scary, especially the near hopelessness of the situation, with no feasible sense on when it can begin to ease off. The panic in the land is such that it is getting to a point where if the virus does not kill you, depression forced on people from isolation, joblessness and frustration will. A case of running from the devil and a deep blue sea is blocking your escape path. A Catch-22 of some sort, either way people will die, thus begging the question why suffer all these quarantines, isolation and loss of jobs if it will not make a weighted difference. Why die sad on empty stomach when one can die happy on a full stomach. Americans are not used to living this way and it might lead to increased suicide rate in addition.

Hopefully, it will not be a situation like the president said, where the cure for the disease becomes more devastating than the disease itself. Things are getting ugly. Why the world is facing this plague is beyond comprehension. The nation and the world in general should humble themselves, understanding that there is a higher power above all powers and sincerely seek for a divine help, in addition to all other medical sciences effort being directed at the problem. Anybody who says he or she is not scared about the coronavirus must be living in fool's paradise or oblivious of themselves. It is not a joke. It is a killing machine and very fast at what it does; and it has no respect for anybody. Like with Houston's we have a problem, it is now the entire mankind that is facing the real existential problem. May God help us all, his children, IJN.

CORONAVIRUS: NO PARTIAL OPENING OF THE COUNTRY.

ICHEOKU says any opening of the United States of America that does not include New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California of which Silicon Valley is part of, makes no sense at all. It is either the entire country is opened for business or none of it is opened at all; but any sporadic openings will not be good, both psychologically and economically, because the whole country is intertwined together. The country is fully integrated and inter dependent on one another; it is a web and it will be very difficult if not impossible to operate some parts of the country with the rest still shut down. Therefore, the best approach is to bravely open the entire country at the same time and now; or don't open any section of it. 

New York and California put together are nearly one fifth of the country's population and controls almost half of the country's entire wealth. The airports in both States, especially in the three named cities, command the highest flights anywhere in the country; then add the hedge funders and venture capitalists who call those three areas home. Many of the flights in the country are between this three cities, both domestic and foreign; so what amount of business will the airline industry be able to carry on without this three cities and their over ten airports. New York' New Jersey ports, Long Beach port and Oakland port are some of the busiest sea parts in the country, so without these cargoes, what type of economic activities will the opened sections of the country conduct? Also, who will fund the businesses that will be opened without Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood venture capitalists and financial traders. 

Therefore, opening some parts of the country for business without this three cities will not be ideal and will be extremely difficult to work out the logistics. If it is not worth doing well then it is probably not worth doing at all; the economy can endure additional few weeks of being on life support and let the whole country open at once and bounce back together as a forceful team of one. That way the energy that will descend on the country will parachute it back to where it was pre Coronavirus, economic dominance. But any haphazard opening will only lead to slow activity as people will still be doubting themselves and wondering if it is safe to go into the water yet. 

They will also be troubled that the government is not going to find a solution to the problem any time soon and will be tepid in going about their business. Many people will also wonder why they were asked to open when the three cities that serve as America's life blood has not opened. There will be fear and panic, especially among factory workers and other people who cannot maintain the 6 feet social distancing among themselves, when a worker coughs. It is better the country is not opened than to open with great trepidation about the unknown and what may be coming down the pike. 

We are all in it together, so let us as a unit, continue to suffer it together and as long as it takes to bring the three cities back to the same acceptable level of infection, so that everybody can be opened at the same time. Moreso, how does anyone prevent an infected person from the not yet opened part of the country from visiting the opened part of the country and vice versa. ICHEOKU thinks the better policy is to institute the wearing of mask in workplaces and that way people can be protected from those who are infected; and if anyone gets too sick, put the person in isolation or rush the person to any of the Coronavirus treatment centers. 

ICHEOKU says open the country at the same time or don't open any part of the country at all, no rushing. Like in natural disasters such as earthquake or tornado and others, where destroyed cities are rebuilt, the economy can be rebuilt, but a lost life ain't coming back. Therefore, let us err on the side of caution, just in case the Chinese Wuhan disease strikes with vengeance in the opened parts of the country and people begin to say had I known. There should be no hurrying to get things back to where they were before, as there is no longer any competition on which country's economy is smoking hot; everyone is now only trying to survive and beat back this humanity's worst affliction. Lets do it together.

PRINCE CHARLES TOO: CORONAVIRUS HAS NO RESPECT FOR ROYALTY

ICHEOKU says one good thing out of the Chinese Wuhan disease aka Coronavirus is that it is an it is a no respecter of person, it does not give a damn nor care a hoot about who the heck you are. It infects the high and low, the rich and poor, the famous and the obscure, the doctor and the patient, and now it has caught up with a royalty. British Prince Charles is its latest infected person and hopefully he has not spread it to Her Majesty the Queen and her ailing husband Prince Philip, as well as the rest of the royal family, their closeness considered. 

ICHEOKU says hopes that the renegade former Prince Harry has already reached out to commiserate with his daddy, except if his femme fatale Meghan Markle forbade him from doing so. The former prince, as the whole world now knows, will do whatever the royal family wrecker tells him to. If he could turn his back on his family because she made him to, not reaching out to his Coronavirus stricken father will not be hard an order for him to also obey as commanded. 

ICHEOKU says the other good thing about Coronavirus is its global reach; it is an equal opportunity global affliction and no place is safe, otherwise the rich and famous would have since flown out on their private jets to whatever the Island is and forbade other lesser mortals from venturing near there. But ironically, African countries whose citizens have been dying in the thousands, drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, just to get to Italy, are now banning flights from every European country and those Africans hitherto swimming to Italy are now swimming back to Africa as fast as the current would permit. Life is full of cruel jokes, admitted humans beings hardly learn.

Anyway, ICHEOKU wishes Prince Charles a quick recovery and his being infected will now put all the British scientists and researchers on an overdrive, in their attempt to find a cure for the Coronavirus, now that their prince and future King is infected. ICHEOKU says God's speed to everyone involved in finding a cure for the Coronavirus and to all those infected, speedy recovery.

DEBORAH LEAH BIRX: A WOMAN'S WOMAN, GOOD FOR PRESIDENT.

ICHEOKU says she is definitely the type of woman that American people should be celebrating and not those nut jobs in Me Too Movement and other Hollywood trouble makers, who think that the only way to be a female is to constitute themselves into male hating nuisances. Nominate Dr Deborah Leah Birx any day as a presidential candidate of either party and America will have the first female president in the White House, without any dig dallying. 

Most American men have no problem with women leadership, including the presidency; but will resist those wild eyed, crazed out, nut jobs feminists, whose only claim for seeking the presidency is their gender and their desire to have a woman president in the White House. ICHEOKU says but American people will not have just any woman in the White House; so, until her type is allowed the nomination of either party, the Queen Crooked Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warrens of America are simply wasting their time thinking that their agitation alone will yield any fruit. 

Her compunction, mannerisms, carriage, poise, intelligence and deep knowledge about things makes her exceptionally qualified and personable for the highest office in the land; and many men in America will agree on this. She is also pleasant to behold, believing that complimenting such a good work of God will not now make ICHEOKU into an automatic  misogynist/sexist pig. But should ICHEOKU care about how some lunatics feel, not in the least. ICHEOKU commends Dr Deborah Leah Birx for the good work which she and her Coronavirus Taskforce are doing trying to reassure American people that the situation is not hopeless and that everything will be ok. Well done doc.