Over the past few weeks, much has been said about Ebola and our government’s response to this disease that continues to spread through much of West Africa. Should we institute a travel ban or not? Do we need more or less troops in West Africa? On the CDC, is it an issue of total funding or misdirected funds?
Personally, I am not buying into what I believe is fear mongering taking place in the media. I believe our nation’s health infrastructure as well as the advanced state of medicine in the United States is enough to prevent a widespread outbreak. The fact two nurses contracted the disease is unsettling, but I do not believe this represents impending medical doom.
However, one part of the Ebola narrative puzzles me.
Last week, President Obama made Ron Klain the federal government’s “Ebola Czar,” the man who will be in charge of the government’s response to cases of Ebola in the U.S. Klain is a longtime Democratic operative who was Chief of Staff to both Vice President Joe Biden and Vice President Al Gore. He also has lobbying experience on Capitol Hill. He graduated from Georgetown University and Harvard Law. That being said, I’m sure he’s a smart guy.
I actually have no issue with him being the newly appointed “Ebola Czar,” though I think it’s a stupid title, even if it is just the colloquial term. Klain has absolutely no medical background, but I believe the job he took demands managerial skills over medical knowledge. I think it will be helpful to have someone familiar with the Washington bureaucracy to preside over the mountains of procedural and legal hurdles of our massive modern government.
However, as you can imagine, the Obama administration has been getting pounded in the media for choosing someone with no medical background to preside over a medical problem. Voters see a medical issue. Optically, a rational leader for a medical issue is someone with a medical background.
How did the administration not foresee this backlash? In the lead up to the midterm elections, it would seem as if it would do everything in its power to prevent further attacks on the President and by extension, Congressional Democrats fighting for their seats.
Why not appoint someone with a medical background and vast knowledge of the D.C. bureaucracy? This would certainly be the politically smart move, and you cannot convince me there is not a single person in the entire U.S. with both credentials.
I think it’s fair game for Republicans to release an onslaught of attacks. Why not? It’s low-hanging political fruit. The President himself said his policies were on the ballot this November. This is another example of how this administration moves from one political fire to the next. The move just seems amateurish.
In the current political climate, why continue to stack the deck against Democrats even further? Trends show the sitting President suffers in the midterms in his second term. Any opportunity for Republicans to tie Congressional Democrats to an unpopular President helps their chances in recovering the majority.
I wholeheartedly believe Ebola will be contained in the U.S. I actually think Klain will do an adequate job. I just think it was a bad political move by the President. However, since I am hoping for a GOP majority, I am not complaining.
