The appointment on Ron Klain, Vice President Joe Biden’s former chief of staff, as the newly created Ebola "czar" highlights further "inconsistencies" in the Obama administration’s handling of the emerging crisis, Rep. Bob Latta, an Ohio Republican, said Monday on "America’s Forum" on
Newsmax TV.
"I haven't gotten anybody really saying they're glad the president appointed him," said Latta, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
"What's his qualifications and background? We already have a director of the CDC, the NIH and now we're appointing somebody else to do those jobs. There hasn't been a lot of great acclamation that he's appointed by the president because his background is not on the medical side, so he can’t really bring any expertise to the subject."
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Latta said he has heard that Klain has already missed two Ebola meetings, not a great way to start off especially considering the heightened concern about readiness.
"I thought to myself, 'If I was being appointed to a position of such high priority, the president would say I would have to attend those meetings,'" Latta said. "Without that medical background, he's going to be behind that proverbial eight ball. Out here they are trying to do what they can to get up to speed, making sure they've got all the right equipment and right people trained and when the person on top of that isn't going to the meetings, that's a bad sign."
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President Barack Obama needs to take Ebola as seriously as the myriad of African nations, and others, that have closed their borders, especially considering the misinformation and contradictory statements that have been circulating in the U.S.
"You got to treat it seriously," he said. "We were assured by the president we didn't have to worry about any cases ever getting into the U.S. and as he said it, it happened. It's a real fear out there in the healthcare community. They want to make sure they are prepared and that they've got the protocol. It's a real fight and it's not something to be taken lightly."
If the story reported by Judicial Watch that the Obama administration is secretly working on ways to bring in
foreign Ebola patients for treatment, it will likely not be welcome news to politicians or constituents.
"If I was a Democrat senator in a red state, that's the last thing I'd want to hear," he said.
"On the other front, if we're having a problem right now with the CDC getting the guidelines and having everything set the way it's supposed to be done, how are we supposed to take care of more people coming in? We had someone come in and the president told us we would never have a situation where we would have an Ebola case and we ended up with two nurses infected. When you got folks in the health community questioning that, it's a real concern."