Joe Henderson: Ron DeSantis gets his Special Session, but it’s really a sideshow

We knew things were serious when Gov. Ron DeSantis called lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a Special Session. This was going to be good.

Surely, the Governor would demand lawmakers address the more than 13% of Floridians who don’t have health insurance during a pandemic, right?

And, of course, he would work with people on both sides of the aisle to do something about skyrocketing housing costs that can chew through too much of a person’s income.

You could name a dozen more social issues that government should address, things that separate the haves from the have-nots. You wouldn’t be wrong.

But what do we get?

A sideshow about masks and vaccine mandates.

This is basically a high-profile DeSantis re-election ad paid for by you, dear taxpayer.

Giving credit where it’s due, House Democratic Co-Leader Evan Jenne phrased it more colorfully.

“This is not about guaranteeing anyone’s freedoms,” Jenne said. “This is not about governmental policy. This is about two men having a measuring contest that they should have in private. Instead, they’re letting it spill out in front of the full public view.”

DeSantis is one of those men, of course, and President Joe Biden is the other. The Governor resists Biden’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts with the stubbornness of a 5-year-old who won’t eat his peas.

So, voila! Come on back to Tallahassee so DeSantis can put on a big show and get air time on Fox News. That’s the way you deal with these things.

Hasn’t DeSantis already issued executive orders prohibiting local school boards from mandating masks? Why, yes, he has.

He also issued one that banned vaccine passports, although it’s not clear that one is working.

Uh, we get it. He is so against mandates that he, well, mandated that local boards can’t mandate.

I think I have a headache.

Anyway, here we go.

The Governor wants to frame himself as John Wayne fighting the scurrilous vandals from Washington, all in the name of freedom!

Did it have to get this messy, though? There should have been a way to balance DeSantis’ reasonable opposition to lockdowns — he’s not wrong there — with the right of schools and businesses to protect students, employees, and customers from a deadly virus.

As of Monday, that virus has killed 60,698 Floridians, more than the total number of U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam. Yes, the infection and death rates are in a steep decline, just like they were last November before they spiked again in January.

The rates also plummeted again in early July, but they were at their highest number of cases since the pandemic began by August. The chart showing the ups and downs of those numbers looks like a roller coaster at Busch Gardens.

And, psssst, infections are climbing again, while Florida conducts a campaign rally instead of dealing with more important issues. Like the song says, though, same as it ever was.