Good on principle. Bad when it is close to home.

Oregon's governor Kate Brown:

Mandatory vaccinations.

Welcome Afghan refugees.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Kate Brown issued a vaccination mandate for health care workers and teachers. It is guaranteed to anger the anti-vaccination people on both left and right. Some of the vaccine hesitant and resistant are Trump-oriented people who distrust anything advocated by people they consider worry-wart nanny-state nags. Those people already dislike Kate Brown.

More troubling for her and Oregon Democrats generally is the offense this order gives to people associated with the Democratic blue team. These include counter-cultural left-oriented users of natural and alternative medicine and anti-establishment opponents of government generally. They overlap with and often include feminist body-autonomy reproductive rights advocates; organic and non-GMO food consumers; gender flexibility people; and most significantly, teacher and nurse unions. Union leaders are instinctively in opposition to top-down and un-negotiated work rules. Brown will get attacked from left and right, by friend and foe. 

Brown wrote: 

Health care workers will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later. All teachers, educators, support staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later.

Here is a link to the full statement:   Click: Governor's office

She said we have a health care crisis and "we must proactively implement solutions right now." The criticism is certain, the benefit is less so. Implementation is delayed until after full FDA approval, which date is unknown and may be for months or years. Plus, we can expect lawsuits and court delays. Delta, or COVID generally, may not be a crisis by then.

Near simultaneously Brown made another announcement: Send us your Afghan refugees.  

As we watch the current situation unfold in Afghanistan, Oregon stands ready to help the federal government resettle Afghan refugee families.

Over the last two decades, thousands of Afghans have worked alongside U.S. military service members, as interpreters and translators and in other roles, risking their lives as they contributed to our efforts in their country. The lives of Afghan women and girls are at risk simply because they had the audacity to learn in school and pursue careers. 

Oregon is ready to welcome our refugee sisters and brothers from Afghanistan, and the rest of the world.

Here is a link to the full statement:  Click: Governor's office.

Again, this announcement will win predictable opposition from the Trump-oriented right. Biden is criticized for the practical act of getting our friends out of Afghanistan. Trump wrote:

By the way, I’m America-first, okay? The Americans come out first. But we’re also going to help people that helped us. And we have to be very careful with the vetting, because you have some rough people in there, but we’re going to help those people.

Fox hosts call Afghan refugees Trojan Horses of Democratic voters at best, and terrorists at worst. Do we really want them next door?  Former Trump advisor and current Newsmax voice Steve Cortes tweets a photo of an escaping airplane and says: "Raise your hand if you want this plane landing in your town."

There will be left-oriented pushback, too.  An occasional Guest Post writer on this blog, Ralph Bowman, reflects a Silent Generation left-oriented sensibility.  

Muslims in the heart of the White Christian Fascist counties, a real statement of brotherhood and acceptance of women’s freedom from male domination. Can’t blame Biden for that venture. Go after Kate Brown for suggesting Afghans are welcome in Oregon. Keep em in Portland, we don’t want’em down here.

For most homeowners, their home is their largest investment. People on the left who overwhelmingly favor drug treatment instead of incarceration and more affordable housing developments tend to want them on principle, but not nearby. NIMBY is real, even if unacknowledged and unvoiced. People make site-specific distinctions. This is the wrong place--too much traffic, site too wet or dry or high or low or too close to a school or too far from services.  Anywhere but here. 

Brown is not running for re-election. She is term-limited. She is doing what needs to be done. It won't make her more popular.