# It's official: Obama isn't taking the ebola threat seriously. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589 "2014-10-17T15:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/41 "2014-10-18T00:56:58Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > So today, President Obama announced he’s naming an [“Ebola czar”](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/17/obama-to-name-ebola-czar/). He’s a guy named Ron Klain. It was immediately noted that Klain has no medial background of any kind; he’s Joe Biden’s former chief of staff. > > Way to phone it in, Barak. Couldn’t you find a former surgeon general, or at least a freakin doctor, to be your “Ebola Czar”? Obama’s not a former surgeon general, and his freakin doctorate isn’t in medicine; he’s a guy who delegates and coordinates, and hires and fires, and otherwise manages the experts who advise and answer to him. And he picked a guy to – well, _do that._ So long as _that_ guy is in charge of the folks with MDs, who cares whether it’s that guy or Obama who’s in charge of the folks with MDs? ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/42 "2014-10-18T01:07:25Z")
The ultimate head of the Manhattan Project was not a nuclear physicist. > **[Leslie Groves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Groves)** > > Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (17 August 1896 – 13 July 1970) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project, a top secret research project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. > The son of a U.S. Army chaplain, Groves lived at various Army posts during his childhood. In 1918, he graduated fourth in his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned into the... ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/43 "2014-10-18T01:19:10Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Personally I think he’s giving the ebola threat exactly as much attention as it deserves. Appointing a czar is a political move to appease fear-mongerers who think he’s not doing enough. I don’t blame him, but considering some of the health threats out there not getting a czar, appointing one just for ebola is silly. > [@Shodan](#): > > I am **Shodan** , and I approve this message. > > Regards, > Shodan Holy shit, I agree with **Shodan** in a thread about Obama? Is the Apocolypse nigh? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/44 "2014-10-18T01:58:29Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The best way not to get Ebola is to not travel to West African countries that have Ebola outbreaks, and don’t be a health care worker who cares for patients with Ebola. > > If you don’t do either of those things then you’re good. > [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Is this serious? Yes, it’s serious. Did you want something more… complex? Spectacular? Hollywood? Don’t travel to areas with Ebola outbreaks (and no, the US is not having an “outbreak” in that sense) and don’t step up to treat people with Ebola and… yeah, those are pretty much the two groups at risk. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/45 "2014-10-18T02:06:37Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I’m just waiting for “antibacterial” cleaning products advertise that they destroy the virus that causes Ebola. Shouldn’t it be a Clorox ad? They say bleach kills it, so it would seem genuine enough. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/46 "2014-10-18T02:46:32Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Personally I think he’s giving the ebola threat exactly as much attention as it deserves. Appointing a czar is a political move to appease fear-mongerers who think he’s not doing enough. I don’t blame him, but considering some of the health threats out there not getting a czar, appointing one just for ebola is silly. The virus is spinning out of control in Africa. It’s a different strain than the original. Trained nurses in the US using standard operating procedures got it despite assurance that it’s difficult to get. I’ll say it again, trained nurses got it. One of them actually contacted the CDC and they advised her it was OK to travel. 3000 troops were sent over there with 4 hrs of training. Not the 4 years that nurses get. 4 hrs. We have a President who is actively promoting open borders and the current line of defense is a questionnaire and a thermometer. I see nothing stopping it from coming over which is far more dangerous because the US is Exponentially more mobile than African countries currently plagued by it. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Seems to me than an Ebola czar will mostly be in charge of organizing and coordinating responses. I would think that expertise in those areas would be more important and more useful than medical knowledge would be. I’m sure he has plenty of highly qualified medical consultants around to give him the medical facts as needed. Unless we plan on suing the virus into remission I don’t see what expertise he has. But it’s interesting you believe he has expertise in this area. If you bothered to look him up on Wiki you’d know he was the person who signed off on Solyndra. A project that was estimated to fail within the year (which it did). He’s a political wonk. The only way he could contribute anything at this point would be to become infected and survive so his antibodies could be harvested. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/47 "2014-10-18T03:14:25Z")
The virus is most communicable during the time the symptoms are the most severe. Think about it- why didn’t any of the many unprotected personnel who saw him during his first visit to the hospital get sick? It’s because it’s not as contagious until someone is at their sickest. That’s why healthcare workers are being hit so hard. Closed boarders don’t make sense at this time. No one is getting on a plane so violently ill to be a serious threat. Ebola is out of control where no one was quarantining the sick and people were engaging in funeral practices that put them in contact with the newly deceased extremely sick people. One person came here with the disease. Think of the 1000s who’ve been flying here from west Africa. One person. Two healthcare workers caught it. Guidelines have been improved and new plans are in place. This fear mongering is so dangerous because it causes people to panic. If all of a sudden people the nurses were in casual contact with before they had severe symptoms get sick, then it’s cause for alarm. If the nurses caring for the two sick women get sick using new precautions, that’s cause for alarm. That’s not happened yet. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/48 "2014-10-18T03:18:49Z")
This is great graphic. It shows that while Ebola is no doubt incredibly deadly, it’s low on the infectious scale. See how it compares to other diseases. > **[Visualised: how Ebola compares to other infectious diseases](https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2014/oct/15/visualised-how-ebola-compares-to-other-infectious-diseases)** > > David McCandless visualises how the deadliness and infectiousness of Ebola compares to other pathogens ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/49 "2014-10-18T03:25:37Z")
I’m usually one of the first to jump on the President for incompetence or complacency, but so far I don’t see an issue. If stories come out later that he wasn’t on top of this, that he hasn’t been in communication with the CDC, then I’ll change my opinion, but for now I just don’t see any evidence of mishandling of the situation other than the politics surrounding it, which I frankly don’t care about. A czar is a purely political position, entirely meaningless. It used to be a running joke in our country for 200 years about how worthless the position of Vice President was. That was until someone, I think President Bush 41, got the idea to appoint a “czar”. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/50 "2014-10-18T03:37:26Z")
[Actually, FDR was the first.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._executive_branch_czars) > [@](#): > > The earliest known use of the term for a U.S. government official was in the administration of Franklin Roosevelt (1933–1945), during which eleven unique positions (or twelve if one were to count “Economic Czar” and “Economic Czar of World War II” as separate) were so described. **The term was revived, mostly by the press, to describe officials in the Nixon and Ford administrations and continues today.** ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/51 "2014-10-18T09:41:41Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I assume that the “Ebola Czar” (what the fuck are we, 1800s Russia?) will have physicians and people with public health background working for him… It seems to me that all these Czars would carry much more authority if each of them were also automatically awarded the title “the Terrible”. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/52 "2014-10-18T10:26:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The virus is spinning out of control in Africa. It’s a different strain than the original. Trained nurses in the US using standard operating procedures got it despite assurance that it’s difficult to get. I’ll say it again, trained nurses got it. One of them actually contacted the CDC and they advised her it was OK to travel. 3000 troops were sent over there with 4 hrs of training. Not the 4 years that nurses get. 4 hrs. > > We have a President who is actively promoting open borders and the current line of defense is a questionnaire and a thermometer. I see nothing stopping it from coming over which is far more dangerous because the US is Exponentially more mobile than African countries currently plagued by it. Hopefully the new Ebola Czar will be able to correct dangerous, fact-free nonsense such as that quoted above. It’s not spinning out of control in Africa, Senegal and Nigeria have successfully contained their outbreaks. Cite for it being a different strain? The healthcare workers didn’t get it _despite_ it being hard to catch, they are the only ones who got it because a) they didn’t follow procedures properly and b) they are literally the only people in America who could possibly have caught it. Stop panicking over a disease that it’s impossible to catch without touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/53 "2014-10-18T12:58:31Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Hopefully the new Ebola Czar will be able to correct dangerous, fact-free nonsense such as that quoted above. > > It’s not spinning out of control in Africa, Senegal and Nigeria have successfully contained their outbreaks. > > Cite for it being a different strain? > > The healthcare workers didn’t get it _despite_ it being hard to catch, they are the only ones who got it because a) they didn’t follow procedures properly and b) they are literally the only people in America who could possibly have caught it. > > Stop panicking over a disease that it’s impossible to catch without touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. I agree with you, the disease is not much of a threat. The real threat we are facing is panic whipped into a frenzy by news media. I don’t think you could overestimate the dangers to the economy and the safety of millions of people that could arise purely out of panic. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/54 "2014-10-18T14:54:26Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I don’t think you could overestimate the dangers to the economy and the safety of millions of people that could arise purely out of panic. Agreed. The 9/11/01 attacks destroyed a few hundred million dollars’ worth of buildings and airplanes. The ensuing fear-caused recession cost in the low trillions of cumulative GDP. To the degree one wants to blame the invasion of Iraq on overreaction to 9/11 the cost only goes up. 9/11/01 was by far the highest percentage ROI on a hostile act in all military and political history. America is no longer the home of the brave. It’s the home of the flighty scaredy-cats. Observing the effectiveness of professional scare-mongers on this population gives me a lot of concern for the long term future. Apparently Americans can be fear-stampeded into believing almost any untruth and endorsing almost any government action. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/55 "2014-10-18T15:06:17Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > So today, President Obama announced he’s naming an [“Ebola czar”](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/17/obama-to-name-ebola-czar/). He’s a guy named Ron Klain. It was immediately noted that Klain has no medial background of any kind; he’s Joe Biden’s former chief of staff. > > Way to phone it in, Barak. Couldn’t you find a former surgeon general, or at least a freakin doctor, to be your “Ebola Czar”? It’s funny. When Obama appoints someone who knows the subject matter, he gets accused of appointing an “industry insider”. But when he appoints someone from outside the field, he gets accused of “phoning it in”. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/56 "2014-10-18T15:15:35Z")
It’s official. Obama is still president. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/57 "2014-10-18T15:17:51Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > It’s official. Obama is still president. That’s just what they want you to think. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/58 "2014-10-18T15:53:54Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Just yesterday I heard a radio talk host breathlessly predicting/hoping that this would become Obama’s “Katrina moment” (blech) **“This is a job for… ahhhh… _STU-UUUUUPER DOC…_!”** Able to Cure Faster than a Speeding Bullet! More Powerful than Fox’s Loco Motives, Able Leap Red-Tape In A Single Bound! Look, up in the Sky! A Symbolic Turd! Someone to Blaaaame! Its Stu-uuuuper Doc! \*\*Yes, its Stu-uuuper Doc! \*\* Strange visitor from the Medicine World who came to DC with Medical Skills and Abilities FAR BEYOND the science of Mortal Man! \*\*Stu-uuuper Doc! \*\* Who can change the Bitching of Mighty Broadcasters, Rend Spiel in his Bare Hands! And who, disguised as Ebola Czar, mild mannered organizer of an efective science based government response, _ **…fights a Never Ending battle for Truth, Justice, and Tommorrow’s News Today…!** _ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/59 "2014-10-18T16:00:11Z")
Every day I wake up and wonder what Obama is doing about the 2 things that affect my life the most: Ebola and ISIL. Everything else pales in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/60 "2014-10-18T16:29:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Agreed. The 9/11/01 attacks destroyed a few hundred million dollars’ worth of buildings and airplanes. The ensuing fear-caused recession cost in the low trillions of cumulative GDP. To the degree one wants to blame the invasion of Iraq on overreaction to 9/11 the cost only goes up. > > 9/11/01 was by far the highest percentage ROI on a hostile act in all military and political history. > > America is no longer the home of the brave. It’s the home of the flighty scaredy-cats. Observing the effectiveness of professional scare-mongers on this population gives me a lot of concern for the long term future. Apparently Americans can be fear-stampeded into believing almost any untruth and endorsing almost any government action. +1 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589.md?page=4)