Obama Should Have Picked “Ebola Czar” With Public-Health Experience

Calm competence. It's what the country most needs as it confronts a ghoulish disease, Ebola, which has already killed thousands in West Africa. Fewer than a handful of U.S.-based infections have sent the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stumbling. Rather than getting ahead of Ebola, our government seems to be lagging behind it.

That plays right into a narrative of an incompetent administration. Its combination of bombastic rhetoric and lackluster performance (thus far) to the Ebola crisis has generated unnecessary anxiety — bordering on panic. Bipartisan calls have mounted for an Ebola “czar” to coordinate the government's response. President Obama bowed to that pressure in naming Ron Klain to that very post. But instead of getting heads nodding in approval, Obama's pick left heads scratching in confusion.

This is not to deny Klain's intelligence or competence. His credentials are impressive.

There's just one problem: What qualifies him to be an Ebola czar?

In light of recent missteps in the government's handling of the crisis, Obama would have been well-served by picking someone with impeccable public-health credentials.

An even better choice would have been to tap someone with public-health experience from across the political aisle, blending smart policy with smart politics to rally Congress.

Some in the public-health community have already expressed surprise and disappointment at Klain's appointment, like Robert Murphy of Northwestern's School of Medicine, who said, “This is not what we need.”

Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, has said correctly that “people are scared, and we shouldn't make them even more frightened.”

We can only hope that Klain proves his critics wrong.

This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News

This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News