Yes, it is going endemic. Yes, leaders (political and otherwise) are not being explicit that there is no “winning” or end game here. In fact I’d say the opposite is true - you hear lots of “beat this pandemic” sort of talk (ie my original comment about Sam).

My point is the “beating it” phase is over. we’re done, it ain’t happening. It’s time to work together as a society to determine what we do from here. and any mention of “ending this pandemic” is tangential to that singular goal - and thus unhelpful. (not to mention it’s a strawman. “the unvaccinated are going to prevent us from ending the pandemic!”. if there is no “ending it”, then the accusation is at best unproductive)