Obama Names Ron Klain as Ebola Czar

a reply to: loam

Maybe he should have appointed Nancy Snyderman - she has medical experience... no political ties either.

It's like they aren't even trying anymore. I guess they realize most American are dumb or not paying attention so trying isn't necessary.

a reply to: jefwane

Agreed, the Obama Administration has been dodging "direct" involvement in hopes of isolating themselves from blame.
Better to let lesser agencies take the fall for their failings. With 2 years left there is still plenty of time for Impeachment or other sanctions.

a reply to: loam

Right.

A person can create and assess sound policy in any highly technical field with no experience in the field itself.

Makes total sense.

They don't have to field questions, more like avoid them. I am sure the new "cezar" is versed at that.

Like ol' whats her name. She isn't reasonably good at anything except dodging questions.

a reply to: intrptr

Dodging questions and keeping the conversation on OR off the President's agenda actually is the entire focus of her job!
ROFL

If she can't do that she's unemployed PDQ.

Edited to add
From The New Your Times...

"“He’ll control the message better than most people would, which is really important from an economic standpoint, from a health standpoint, but it’s also important from a political perspective,” one official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

“If anybody can get the way this is being reported and discussed under control in a short period of time, he’s the one,” the official added."

www.nytimes.com...

I really couldn't begrudge the GOP hitting the airwaves the next couple of weeks hammering the admin for refusing to implement travel restrictions. I've heard the arguments about the effectiveness of such but am unconvinced that travel restrictions do more harm than good.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
FFS.

I hate that word Czar..

Anyway, at least there seems to be a more dedicated response now.

~Tenth

I hope thats a joke bud...........

Everyone that this man has appointed has failed so miserably and has been so inept that its further worsened every situation they have been in

I cant believe he appointed someone with no medical background to oversee this........

I swear its like instead of hiring a pilot to fly the space shuttle, they bring in a janitor and give him flight manuals to learn......

This isnt a response..........this is pacification of the masses........

Another case of Obama giving minimal effort to try and look like hes actually doing something

Obama: "there now thats done " *sprints to Golf Cart One*

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

I didn't realize who the guy was when I posted that.

See my subsequent response lol

~Tenth

Managing the message.

We need a health problem managed. Just tell the truth and the message manages itself.

originally posted by: Caver78
a reply to: LockNLoad

That's what I thought too, but apparently the job is currently vacant.

Which may be quite an advantageous reason to have a
PC representative of the War Against Ebola in the slot.
The Surgeon General if I remember HAS to be a doctor.
Could it have been a deliberate stall in the appointment:
in order to have a less experienced person to blame later?
"We can't have anybody with appropriate credentials in
there, it'd deny the option for an incompetency alibi..."
Just my pair of farthings

Was this before or after the lady puked all over the pentagon parking lot? (Just heard about this on radio) She had recenly traveled from Africa....sorry on phone looking for link...

a reply to: Caver78

There it is… thanks for the added content.

I enjoyed that as much as watching them do the 'shuck and jive'.

Quite apparent 0bama isn't finished with letting Ebola get a foothold in America.

I wonder if his wife feels 'proud' of this choice? Another Czar to bow before the Great Ones.

Well...well...well. Very interesting. Obama has appointed an "Al Gore-the earth-is-burning-must tax" buddy.

A former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and also to then-Vice President Al Gore, Klain is currently President of Case Holdings and General Counsel of Revolution, an investment group.

Case Holdings - part of The Case Foundation (Steve and Jean Case of AOL) who are involved in The Water for People Program in Africa safe water solutions in Africa

Revolution Investment Company --- Now that's interesting. They are involved with The Case Foundation who has investments in this company: Extend Health

If you don't think this administration is up to his eyeballs in cronyism, then you aren't connecting these dots:

Extend Health, Inc., a leading provider of defined contribution health care solutions to Fortune 500 corporations, announced that it has secured $15 million of Series B funding led by Psilos Group. Psilos was joined by Extend Health’s ]existing investor, Revolution Health Group of Washington, D.C. Extend Health will use the funds to better serve its growing corporate customer base, which includes Chrysler, Federal Express, IBM, GE, The Gap, Avon and dozens of other major corporations. In conjunction with the financing, the company has changed its name to Extend Health, Inc. to better reflect the breadth of programs available to its clients, their employees and retirees. The company was previously known as Extend Benefits Group, LLC. The company also today announced a new board of advisors which includes leaders in health care, finance, accounting and government service. Advisory board members include Dr. Mark McClellan, former head of the Center for Medicare Services and the Food and Drug Administration, Dick Gephardt, former Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives; Chuck Bowsher, former head of the U.S. General Accounting Office and Comptroller General of the United States; Ed Mazur, former State Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Virginia and a former member of the Government Accounting Standards Board; and Alain Enthoven, currently a Professor of Public and Private Management (Emeritus), at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “We are pleased to announce the closing of our Series B round and welcome two of Psilos’ founding partners, Dr. Albert Waxman and Stephen Krupa, to Extend’s board of directors,” said Bryce Williams, Extend Health’s chief executive officer. “Extend Health had a choice of investment partners, but chose Psilos because of its superior track record in health care services and its reputation for working with entrepreneurial teams to build substantial value over time.” “We welcome Psilos as an investor in Extend Health and have reinvested in this round because of the company’s substantial traction in providing high-quality health insurance plans for the employees and retirees of dozens of major American corporations,” said Steve Case, Revolution Health chairman and chief executive officer. “Revolution looks forward to an ongoing role in helping Extend Health create innovative and compelling coverage solutions for its clients.” “We are excited about the investment in Extend Health, its management team and its core value proposition of bringing highly personalized health insurance options to employees who would otherwise be unable to participate in company-sponsored health plans, as well as retirees who do not typically have the ability to personalize a plan to their needs,” said Al Waxman, Psilos co-founder and senior managing member.

This appointment is very convoluted, my friends!

Oh I feel so much better now .

Obama has created another job for a Washington bureaucrat. Having a political fixit man in charge of a national medical crisis is a good move we cant have umm Doctors dictating policy just on whats good for health. We need a person with political savvy to balance between politically correct and whats best for the health of our citizens .

Maybe he can explain why closed borders in west African nations is said to be critical to stopping Ebola but from here to there its a bad Idea and will make it worse. or explain how or why we cant get ebola on a bus by casual contact but if You got ebola dont go on a bus you will spread it.

We ALREADY have enough political hacks making policy we need REAL Doctors in charge not political puppet or puppet Dr.s

originally posted by: loam
CNN is just reporting this.

Will post a link as soon as it's available.

Ron Klain

Ronald A. "Ron" Klain is an American lawyer and political operative best known for serving as Chief of Staff to two Vice Presidents - Al Gore (1995–1999) and Joseph Biden (2009–2011). He is an influential Democratic Party insider. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White during the Court's 1987 and 1988 Terms and worked on Capitol Hill, where he was Chief Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination. He was portrayed by Kevin Spacey in the HBO film Recount depicting the tumult of the 2000 presidential election.

It's interesting to me that Obama appointed a political hack, rather than a medical professional. That should tell you all you need to know about this administration's priorities.

Perfect! We have a fathead lawyer heading this thing? A lawyer that worked for Biden and Gore? I think I feel sick

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originally posted by: Bilk22

originally posted by: loam
CNN is just reporting this.

Will post a link as soon as it's available.

Ron Klain

Ronald A. "Ron" Klain is an American lawyer and political operative best known for serving as Chief of Staff to two Vice Presidents - Al Gore (1995–1999) and Joseph Biden (2009–2011). He is an influential Democratic Party insider. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White during the Court's 1987 and 1988 Terms and worked on Capitol Hill, where he was Chief Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination. He was portrayed by Kevin Spacey in the HBO film Recount depicting the tumult of the 2000 presidential election.

It's interesting to me that Obama appointed a political hack, rather than a medical professional. That should tell you all you need to know about this administration's priorities.

Perfect! We have a fathead lawyer heading this thing? A lawyer that worked for Biden and Gore? I think I feel sick

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On the upside when has any of his czars ever actually DONE anything

Look at all the Czars hes had before, doyou ever really hear about them doing ANYTHING in the field they were assigned to over see..?

I dont remember, its like they appoint them and then they fade off into existence never to be heard from again.....

So glad we have this guy here to save us.......

I don't know why some of you think the post of Surgeon General is vacant, Rear Admiral Boris Lushniak is in the position, granted it is an "acting" position but he should be able to make decisions as the SG and at least he has medical experience and I would assume that as an officer in the military he would have some leadership experience, and we could really use some leadership on this.

I know people keep throwing out things like 'incompetence,' 'idiocy,' etc. but I think too much projection may be involved. It would certainly appear that it is mere incompetence, but switch some end goals and things change very quickly.

I suppose it is easier and less intimidating to chalk it up to stupidity, but guaranteed this is 'the man for the mission.' Their objectives might just differ from what they say, or what we think they should be though.

Conspiracy site and all that

Sorry for not reading entire thread. This may have already been mentioned...
This link about the Pandemic Drills sure comes across as more of a financial crisis to be managed than a "humanitarian" or "health" crisis. So, Obama's naming this guy as czar makes all the sense there is, (in this crazy, up-side down universe we're living in right now, that is!)

www.sifma.org...