Common Sense

It seems that the Ebola stories are accelerating.  And it seems like everyone is an expert.  Opinions abound.  Recommendations are not in short supply.  Hysteria rules the day.  Recriminations and accusations are plentiful.

Amidst all the craziness I saw a blog post by my favorite opinion writer and author, Peggy Noonan.  It's titled "The Travel Ban and the New Czar" and you can read it here.

As usual, Ms Noonan hits the nail on the head in several areas.  She cleverly and logically divided the current issues into 3 parts.  She talks about the handling of the issue by the Administration, the travel ban issue, and the new Czar.

Regarding the handling of the issue the best quote is:

The only thing that will calm the public is competence. Until they see it, warnings about hysteria will be experienced as patronizing and deeply self-serving.

She makes a powerful case for a travel ban for the countries in West Africa who are most involved.  The reality is that the Administration is making no sense on this issue.  Restricting Visas for people from those countries only makes sense.

On the subject of a travel ban, the administration and those media members who function as its allies have produced a number of airy statements and sentiments. All of it feels of deliberate obfuscation and confusing of issues.

The burden is on those who oppose a ban to make a hard, factual, coherent and concrete case. It is telling that so far they have not been able to.

As far as the appointment of the political operative, Ron Klain, as the Ebola Czar, it's laughable.  But not really.  What it really is is sad.  This guy has been appointed to manage the spin, pure and simple.

More significant is that he is a longtime, hard-line Democratic Party operative who is known more for spin and debate prep than high-level management. That suggests the White House sees the Ebola crisis as foremost a political messaging problem. The president certainly seems unafraid of appearing to see the problem as a political messaging one. His primary focus when choosing Klain looks self-indulgent: “Who do I trust and like to work with?” as opposed to “What does the public require and the situation demand?”