Obama's man on Ebola is former Biden staff chief

Obama's man on Ebola is former Biden staff chief 1 hour ago • BY JIM KUHNHENN(0) Comments WASHINGTON (AP) — He's tackled the financial crisis, served two vice presidents and been portrayed by Kevin Spacey in an HBO film, but Ron Klain's newest job as the U.S. point person on Ebola may be his toughest challenge to date.

A longtime Democratic operative, Klain was tasked Friday by President Barack Obama with running the government's response to the Ebola crisis. Klain has been a trusted adviser at the Obama White House, and served as Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff from 2009 to 2011 and as Vice President Al Gore's from 1995 to 1999.

Klain has been out of government since leaving Biden's office during the Obama's first term. The White House said that Klain would report to national security adviser Susan Rice and to homeland security and counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco.

Klain, a lawyer, also served as chief of staff for Vice President Al Gore and was a key figure during the 2000 Florida presidential election recount. He previously served under Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton administration.

One thing absent from Klain's resume: A medical background. Klain does not have any major public health experience, but the White House is calling the new post an "Ebola response coordinator," suggesting the role is intended more to synchronize the actions of various agencies rather than to weigh in on the specifics of how best to stop Ebola.

Obama has been under pressure to name an Ebola "czar" to oversee health security in the U.S. and actions to help stem the outbreak in West Africa, where nearly 4,500 people have died from the virus.

White House officials had initially resisted congressional calls to name a lead figure on Ebola, arguing that various agencies had distinct responsibilities, including the Centers for Disease Control, the Defense Department, and the Health and Human Services Department.

But on Thursday, Obama conceded that such a point person might in fact be necessary even as he praised his adviser for doing "an outstanding job."

But he said that several of his advisers, including Monaco and CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden, are also confronting other priorities. He noted that Frieden is also dealing with flu season, and Monaco and Rice are having to spend time on the Islamic State extremists in the Middle East.

"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 we are crossing all the Ts and dotting all the Is," he said.

Klain comes to the job with strong management credentials, extensive federal government experience overseeing complex operations and good working relationships with leading members of Congress, as well as senior Obama administration officials, including the president.

In a statement, the White House noted that as Biden's chief of staff, Klain helped with the implementation of the White House stimulus package of 2009 created as a response to the recession and the financial crisis.

Klain is President of Case Holdings and General Counsel at Revolution LLC, a technology venture capital firm based in Washington, DC.

[ How many years has he studied medicine and the transmission of infectious diseases? ]

Ebola-eussical, the Musical..

You cannot catch it on a Bus.
Even if you lick infected pus.

You cannot catch it from a Hug.
Harder to get than flu, this ebola bug.

You cannot catch it from a mouse.
Or rooming in an infected house.

You cannot catch it from the air.
Even on a plane ride from Zim-zam-zaire.

You can trust the Cee Dee Cee
Obama will save us, you will See....

(cough cough, Vomit Noise)
(Into the hot zone go our boys)

Obama hack.

Please call congress and tell them that we must be deadly serious about containing Ebola by strict quarantine within the United States and from infected nations. This is our right and our duty and it is THEIR duty to protect US.
Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121 or Google your congressman or senator and get his contact information and call him / her office directly. You can also call or go to their local offices.

I believe decisive response is urgent because you can’t put this Ebola genie back in the bottle once it gets out. It is a fire, it consumes all the fuel it can get and the fuel is people. The only way to stop a fire is to block it from the fuel or cool it with water. A vaccine or medicine to treat Ebola would be the water and we don’t have reliable, enough or any.

Every possible measure must be taken to stop the spread before draconian measures are imposed. What is being done now is sloppy. We are walking a dangerous road. The threat is blossoming by the day if not hour. Almost every hour there is some new Ebola development and none of them are good. This is a serious and potentially deadly event. Unchecked it could destroy or weaken the United States and facilitate our destruction by others. It has that potential for every country and that is why so many are responding with such strict quarantines. These consequences, no matter how small the probabilities, demand a full effort and significant response.

Ebola is being spread here in the United States right now. First Texas, then Ohio then? Terror is an excellent weapon. It disrupts, confuses, paralyzes and destroys a society. Many others and we on FR have speculated that terrorists may spread Ebola. How do you that remember 9/11 feel right now compared to what you felt then? Do you want to gather your loved ones near you to protect them? I do. Even more than I did on September 11, 2001! Isn’t this passive response by this administration accomplishing the very same things a terrorist would want?
When something is being done that makes as little sense as what Obama is doing there has to be some other reason. I leave it to you dear reader to draw your own conclusions as to the reasons.
What is happening now is insane. It makes no sense at all. For example the head of CDC says: “Stopping travel from Africa won’t do any good because you have to get people into Africa to fight Ebola.” “You can’t get Ebola from an infected person on a bus but an infected person should never be on a bus because he can infect others.” “Blocking travel from infected countries would damage their fragile economies.” What about ours? What about our safety? What about resources we have paid for that should be protecting us?

Even the most despotic dictatorship in Africa has acted to protect his nation by strict quarantine and stopping travel from infected countries. Even CDC, the UN and WHO advocate and credit strict quarantine for nipping the spread of Ebola in the bud at the source in places like Senegal and Nigeria where both have had faster and more successful outbreak controls than we have had here. 35 countries have stopped travel of people from infected West African countries. It is so obvious even a child could understand it so why is it OK for people from infected countries to travel here?
I will post this message and keep posting it until someone stops me.

For further reference:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3216461/posts

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