Czar Klain: No Way To Run a Republic

On Friday, addressing mounting concerns about a medical crisis in the U.S., President Obama named the noted epidemiologist Dr. Ronald Klain as the country’s “Ebola czar.” Dr. Klain….

The new Ebola czar is not an expert in infectious diseases, or in public health, or even a doctor. To Washington insiders, Ron Klain, a high-stakes Democratic Party operative, is most famous for his role in Florida legal challenges surrounding the 2000 presidential election. Those with longer memories remember Klain’s work as the Al Gore aide who labored to raise more than $100 million for the Democratic Party in the scandal-plagued 1996 presidential campaign. Klain served as chief of staff for two vice presidents, Gore and Joe Biden. In the latter role, he was instrumental in greasing the wheels for the troubled Solyndra Corp., which later collapsed at a cost to taxpayers of more than $500 million.

Dr. Klain has not exactly rushed to the medical front in the battle against Ebola. Appointed Friday, he’ll start today, or maybe tomorrow, and will skip Friday’s Ebola hearing at the House Oversight Committee. Already news is leaking in the Beltway that the Klain appointment is merely to set the stage for bigger things at the White House—senior counselor to the president, perhaps, or maybe a turn as chief of staff to the big man himself.

So it’s clear that the White House views the Ebola situation as a potential political crisis, not a public health one. Okay, fine, that’s the president’s prerogative. But what’s troubling is Czar Klain’s end run around the Constitution.

The Washington Post reports that Klain is “tasked with coordinating domestic preparedness efforts and the U.S. military operation to help control the virus’s spread in West Africa.” He’ll report to homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and national security advisor Susan Rice, the Post says. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is also a player. And the Defense Department has a major role. And because it is Africa, so does the State Department. And so does the Department of Homeland Security. Power in Washington is in direct relation to proximity to the president. So a “czar” operating from the White House exercises powerful influence over these departments, which have a measure of transparency and accountability under the law.

Not the czars. As Judicial Watch has reported, the Obama Administration has named dozens of them across the Executive Branch. Many, like Czar Klain, are unconfirmed by the Senate, largely unaccountable to Congress, and often outside the reach of the Freedom of Information Act. That’s a troubling consolidation of power, and no way to run a Republic.

So it’s clear that the White House views the Ebola situation as a potential political crisis, not a public health one.

That's exactly what I have been saying. The Oministration is doing nothing to try to actually solve the ebola problem, and he's only addressing the political fall-out from it.

Obama doesn't care about American people.

2 posted on 10/21/2014 1:44:01 PM PDT by caligatrux (They always said that the living would envy the dead.)

Absolutely...Baghdad Frieden of the CDC and Fauci of the NIH are so inept that 0bama is calling on a political hack to try and save his neck on this fiasco.

3 posted on 10/21/2014 1:48:18 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)

Many, like Czar Klain, are unconfirmed by the Senate, largely unaccountable to Congress,

Only because Congress Allows it, they could stop it tomorrow, they are ALL complicit.

5 posted on 10/21/2014 1:50:32 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)

Very sorry to say that’s correct.

6 posted on 10/21/2014 1:53:39 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)

The Czar says over population is the #1 problem. I wonder how many they believe obola will take out. And do they know they can stop it once they reach the magic number?

7 posted on 10/21/2014 1:57:48 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (Liberals were raised by women or wimps. And they're all stupid.)

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8 posted on 10/21/2014 2:01:42 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)

Obama should have cut out the middleman and just appointed Kevin Spacey directly ...

What I expect from Klain is secrecy. He will attempt to hide the epidemic & the poor response by the CDC. Already, info on the condition of Nina Pham’s boyfriend is being withheld. Does he have Ebola, or not?

10 posted on 10/21/2014 2:43:59 PM PDT by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)

The higher up one goes in an organization, the more of a generalist one has to be. There’s plenty of room for medical expertise one rung down the ladder. Even if person at the top were an MD, he or she wouldn’t be spending a lot of time practicing medicine.

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