Posted on 10/22/2014 8:13:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
WASHINGTON - When the then-spreading Ebola virus threatened our nation last week, President Obama put one man in charge of coordinating the government's response who had zero experience in handling infectious diseases.
While it appears the Ebola threat may be receding here at home, the longtime Democratic political fixer he chose to oversee the government's handling of a deadly disease is an outrageous example of the kind of people he has put into key positions in his administration.
This was a high-level job for a prominent, experienced take-charge, medical expert with both administrative and executive credentials. But the president chose Ron Klain, a loyal Democratic operative whose background has been in legal work and party politics.
He played major role in one of Obama's worst spending scandals: The waste-ridden "green investments" program that poured hundreds of millions of tax dollars into dubious energy companies that went bankrupt. More on this in a moment. The longtime Washington lawyer served as chief of staff for Vice President Joe Biden and, before that, for then-vice president Al Gore. He was also a top attorney on Al Gore's Florida recount committee in the disputed 2000 election
As Biden's chief of staff, Klain had a hand in overseeing Obama's $800 billion job stimulus program. And we know how badly that turned out: a costly, big government failure that had little if any longterm impact on the nation's sky-high unemployment rate.
He also worked in a number of Democratic presidential campaigns, including Gore's presidential race in 2000 and John Kerry's White House bid in 2004.
This was a party loyalist pure and simple, utterly without any medical or health care qualifications for someone who is put in charge of preventing the deadly Ebola virus from spreading to the rest of the country.
Democrats in Congress praised Obama's choice. But Republicans expressed shock and dismay at his decision put someone in charge who had no credentials for the job.
One of the GOP leaders who questioned Obama's poor judgement was House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Edward R. Royce of California.
"I have to ask why the president didn't pick an individual with noteworthy infectious disease or public health background?" Royce said in a statement last week.
But Obama wasn't looking for someone outside of the administration who would be an independent figure in the then-emerging Ebola crisis. He wanted a time-tested loyal Democrat who could handle the politics of the situation as well as the administrative side.
The president had just gone through an embarrassing period with the release of former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's blockbuster, tell-all book that said Obama had bungled the war on terrorism in Iraq and Syria and had a hard time making crucial national security decisions.
The White House wanted someone who would protect the president in the handling of what appeared then to be a chaotic situation in which no major administration figure was in charge -- least of all Obama.
Biden lobbied for his former top aide, who had proven himself as a hardened political loyalist first and foremost in the rough and tumble of governing as a political trouble-shooter. He got the job and the early controversy over his selection seems to have receded.
Lost in all of this, however, was Klain's role in dealing with Obama's problem-plagued clean energy projects that were supposed to create thousands of new jobs.
One of them was the $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt solar panel company Solyndra. The deal was on its way to approval, despite numerous reports from both outsiders and government officials that the business was on shaky ground and a risky investment.
Much of the criticism for Solyndra came from the Office of Management and Budget where one key official said in an e-mail that the Department of Energy was "completely oblivious" about the company's financial troubles, warning the White House that "bad days are coming."
But the political skids were greased for the project in 2010 and Obama planned to tour the plant to promote his jobs program as a huge success.
Still, the warnings continued. A former California state controller wrote to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in May 2010, voicing concerns that this was not a viable firm. "I just want to protect the president from anything that could result in negative or unfair press," he said.
Jarrett, one of the president's closest aides, relayed the message to Klain, saying "We clearly need to make sure that they are stable and solid." Klain checked further with DOE officials who insisted the company was "strong," but with this troubling warning: "…the company is okay in the medium term, but will need some help of one kind or another down the road."
Nevertheless, despite all of these doubts, Klain gave the project and Obama's visit a qualified green light the day before the president toured the plant.
"It sounds like there are some risk factors here -- but that's true of any innovative company that POTUS would visit," Klain wrote on May 24, 2010," according to a USA Today story in 2011.
"It looks like it is OK to me, but if you feel otherwise, let me know," he added.
Then, in a defensive, follow-up e-mail to Jarrett later that day, he added, "The reality is that if POTUS visited 10 such places over the next 10 months, probably a few will be belly-up by election day 2012."
In the end, Obama dismissed Solyndra's bankruptcy and the loss of 1,100 jobs, saying, "Hindsight is always 20-20. People felt like it was a good bet." Well, not exactly everybody.
There were many more bad bets in a long line of grants and loans that followed. The taxpayers are footing the bill for those gambling debts, too.
Which leads to this question: What if Klain's judgment on future issues dealing with Ebola turn out to be just like his costly misjudgment on Solyndra?
The guy looks gay, and with Obama, that goes a long ways.
Does “O” ONLY appoint people with single digit IQ’s?
this guy’s gonna do a heckuva job, I just know it
He is well qualified for the job.
The primary job responsibility of the “Ebola Czar” is to spin the press so that Obama does not get the blame if we have a national Ebola pandemic. If he can also pin the blame on Republicans then it is a bonus.
Coming up with any sort of plan to actually prevent a pandemic is not within his job responsibilities.
Your tax dollars at work.
When you’re Incompetent yourself, you appoint/promote those who are even More Incompetent to be around you.
The Peter Principle in action.
In this case, pun intended.
This joker, who is in charge of how America deals with a virus that could de-populate the world, said in 2008 that the biggest problem in the world is over-population... What exactly is his job description again?
Will Obama say, “Heckuva job Klainy!’ ??
I think to be better at his job he needs to go to the affected countries and meet the people with ebola.
Bring obama with you.
Some way we could get that on the ballot next month?
Mmmmm....that all sounds like serious tax dollars are planned for the Ebola Czar's office.....fast-tracked to be wire-transferred offshore.
"Hi there, Americans. Obama put me in charge of the trillion dollar stimulus.
My son and brother are gonna help my office disperse the money. Ron Klain
will oversee all dispersals. "
What does "Czar Klain" know about this?
Offshore Fraudster had links to offshore fund run by VP Biden's relatives
Reuters on Yahoo | 2/23/09 | BY Ajay Kamalakaran
(Reuters) – A fund of offshore hedge funds run by two members of VP Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by offshore firms controlled by Texas financier Allen Stanford, charged by regulators with an $8 billion fraud, the Wall Street Journal said.
The Bidens $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and the offshore Stanford Financial Group entity headquartered in Antigua, and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund, the paper said. Stanford-related offshore companies marketed the Biden fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, the paper said, citing a lawyer for Paradigm.
Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president Biden's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James, according to the WSJ. Paradigm's attorney, Marc LoPresti, who represents Hunter Biden and James Biden, as well as Paradigm, told the paper he did not know which Stanford entity invested the roughly $2.7 million. (Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
NOTE A lawyer for Hunter Biden and James Biden told reporters the Bidens NEVER met or communicated with Stanford. (/snicker)
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Convicted con man R. Allen Stanford used offshore corporate money to subsidize the Democratic convention in Denver. A video posted on the firm's web-site shows Stanford, being hugged by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and praised by former President Bill Clinton for helping to finance a Democrat convention-related forum and party put on by the National Democratic Institute.
"I would like to thank the Stanford Financial Group for helping to underwrite this," Clinton said to the crowd at the event. Stanford Financial was listed as the "lead benefactor" for the gathering, and Stanford was permitted to address the audience of several hundred.
The SEC charged yesterday that Stanford was running a fraudulent offshore investment scheme that may have bilked customers out of as much as $8 billion. Over the last decade, Stanford has spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions to Washington politics in both parties, although the vast majority of the money has gone to Democrats.
"We had no reason to believe that a very public company that was also engaged in philanthropic work might be suspect," said a spokesperson for the National Democratic Institute, Amy Dudley. (Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
NANCY PELOSI DANCING W/ CON MAN ALAN STANFORD AT DEMOCRAT BIGDO.
So, I guess Ron Klain---- the hardened political loyalist and political trouble-shooter---was at the Denver Democrat convention underwritten by con man Allan Stanford.
Nonsense. Klain's "judgement" is irrelevant----clearly, his expertise is getting Congress to allocate tax dollars....so that this team player and party loyalist can handover mega-bucks to Obama, Jarrett, and the rest of the WH Obamatons....and he will say, and do, anything to accomplish this.
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