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Damage Control: Obama Appoints an Ebola Czar
Things are becoming dire . . . not necessarily for those of us who fear that Ebola may spread to the US, but for Barack Obama and the Democrats. If things were not becoming really, really dire, the President would not have done what he just did — which is to appoint — drum roll, please — an “Ebola czar.”
That this is a-made-for television drama is clear from the most impressive fact about Ron Klain, the new Ebola czar. He knows nothing about medicine or epidemiology — nothing more, that is, than you or I know.
Here is the justification the President gave:
It may make sense for us to have one person … so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process just to make sure that we’re crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s going forward.
The mainstream press in its wisdom tells us that Klain is a good manager. His accomplishment? He managed the allocation of stimulus funds. Take a moment to think about that.
Is Klain competent “to make sure that we’re crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s going forward?” When it comes to epidemiology, does he have any idea what are the I’s and what are the T’s? I have my doubts.
And do we not have a CDC and a director who has the training and the experience so that we could assume he really does know what are the I’s and what are the T’s? If the man whom Barack Obama hired in 2009 to handle this task is not up to the job (which may well be the case), should he not be replaced . . . perhaps by an epidemiologist who has not frittered away his time in recent years on the banning of soda pop in large containers?
What is going on is obvious. Ron Klain is exceptionally good at managing things . . . politically. He is good, for example, at seeing that the stimulus money ends up in the hands of clients of the Democratic Party. And my guess is that he will do a whole lot better than Tom Frieden did at managing public expectations — at “damage control.”
Klain’s new job is not to protect thee and me from an outbreak of Ebola. It is to protect the President from an outbreak of criticism. That was the task assigned Tom Frieden. But when sent out to say what is obviously untrue — that we do not need to bar from the US travelers who have spent time in the countries in West Africa where Ebola is widespread — he repeatedly made a fool out of himself. Every word of reassurance he uttered made us feel less secure.
Perhaps this ploy will work for the President. The man is a master of gestures. He has made one problem after another disappear from public view by means of a public statement or a meaningless act.
But this trick might not work this time. No one who bothers to think for two or three minutes will be reassured by a decision to entrust an epidemiological crisis to a man with no epidemiological expertise.
The Republican candidates for the Senate, if they had any moxie, would join together and in a chorus denounce this appointment as transparent window-dressing.
Published in General
I’ve concluded that the only cohesive explanation for this administration’s actions – or nonactions in this and every other “situation” they have faced, is this: The first and only consideration is the “optics.” The probable outcomes, or consequences of what they say or do, are meaningless until they occur, then the administration will respond to the “new” crisis with more optics. That there could be a link between what is now and what was before is of no interest. Even conflicting optics are of no concern, since nobody will make such a connection. Certainly nobody in this administration is concerned with any nexus. Or if they are, and they continue to behave as they have all along, frankly, that’s even more scary.
In order to put the best construction possible on the present administration you have to start by assuming that they’re dumber than bricks. Otherwise, it’s worse. Much worse.
Charlie’s head would explode.
Hmm…
Anybody have Charlie’s phone number?
Now I see that there’s a news release about how angry BHO is at his cabinet, etc. people for not, um, not… something. Not making him look good. So the “It isn’t my fault” game has started, and the MSM are willing, even eager participants.
So who do you think the sacrificial party will be? I predict it’ll be Frieden. He’ll resign in shame, just as soon as they can find a multi-million position on a board of directors for some corporation or other, where they can hide him for a while. He’ll stay there until nobody’s looking, then he’ll be moved back on the administration staff somewhere.
Then they’ll appoint some other admin. “advisor,” and then we’ll be allll better! Isn’t that right, snookums!
AIG must have missed the comments by Dr. Savage and a binder full of comments by Kozak.
Her internals are probably worse.
Josh Earnest announced today that a travel ban is on the table. I think Ron Klaine will appear on all the Sunday shows tomorrow and announce a travel ban. The polling in favor of a ban is too strong. It cannot continue to be ignored much longer.
Are you suggesting that Ebola is dissolving Democrats’ chances for re-election? Based internally? How wickedly appropriate. Karma.
Seawriter
Just another billion or two down the drain. Obama naturally looks for more bureaucracy to solve problems … it’s what progressives do.
No flights cancelled.
But elections will be cancelled due to “public safety.”
The head of the CDC should already be the Ebola Czar, given that it’s in his job description. However, after his “you can’t get it on a bus but you can give it on a bus” comment, maybe having someone totally ignorant about communicable diseases being Ebola Cazr is par for the course with this administration . . .
As usual, Rush has been pitch-perfect and ahead of the crowd. The Limbaugh Theorem is that Obama runs against Washington. So the theater here is…
Nobody in Washington is more upset about this Ebola thing than Obama. When he gets to the bottom of it, people are going to be in trouble. Obama just cannot understand how the government has botched this thing and he is not going to put up with it. Nobody in the country is angrier about this than the president!
What is surreal, is if you quickly glance at the R>2 carousel headline for this story you might read it as
Damage Control: Obama Appoints Ebola Czar Paul A. Rahe
If only Obama had an ounce of common sense, it would be true.
:)
One other point about the new Ebola Czar. According to NPR, he was also the guy who talked Al Gore into rescinding his concession of the 2000 presidential election. They breathlessly reported that he had been played by Kevin Spacey in the movie “Recount,” including a clip of the kind of wooden dialogue that Hollywood thinks its heroes use in crisis.
So not only does Klain get credit for sending Obama to Solyndra, but for precipitating one of the most corrosive and divisive political fights in living memory.
Both of which failed in their objectives.
This is the “implementation expert” the White House tells us they have tapped.
Can’t wait to see how this plays out.