Parenthetically, can you imagine if Bill Clinton had ever said anything like this? It would have been more like, "I hugged and kissed ebola medical staff and felt perfectly safe. But they sure as hell didn't.":
In an effort to quell growing public fears over the Ebola crisis, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he felt safe touching nurses who had treated two Americans at Emory University Hospital recently.
"I want to use myself as an example just so people have the sense of the science here," Obama said. "I shook hands with, hugged and kissed – not the doctors, but a couple of the nurses at Emory because of the valiant work that they did in treating one of the patients.
"They followed the protocols. They knew what they were doing, and I felt perfectly safe doing so, and so this is not a situation in which, like the flu, the risks of a rapid spread of the disease are not imminent."
The key phrase in that quote? "Emory University Hospital". Why is that phrase key?:
Obama visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on September 16th, when he would have met the nurses. That was 27 days after Dr. Kent Brantly was released and declared cured and 29 days after nurse Nancy Writebol was released.
In other words, Emory University Hospital is one of the few healthcare facilities in the country that is trained and equipped to treat ebola cases. If I were going to hug and kiss two nurses who had treated ebola patients, I would do so (1) at Emory University Hospital, (2) more than three weeks after their exposure with no symptoms having arisen, and (3) adjourned to a hotel room to see where this threesome was going.
Oops, sorry, started channeling Bill Clinton again. But (1) and (2) applied to The One when he undertook his unwanted affection infliction. So he really wasn't in any danger. Now if he wants to either (1) genuinely allay public ebola fears or (2) risk a state funeral in the near future, he could always go to Dallas, have all the ebola nurses at Texas Presbyterian Hospital line up, and feel, grope, and osculate his way through every one of them. Somehow I don't think that's going to be on his daily schedule any time soon.
And he could, you know, close the border and ban incoming flights from West Africa, as House Speaker John Boehner has now joined the chorus in demanding:
House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday joined a rising number of Republicans in calling on the Obama administration to ban west African travel to help stop the spread of Ebola.
"A temporary ban on travel to the United States from countries afflicted with the virus is something that the president should absolutely consider, along with any other appropriate actions as doubts about the security of our air travel systems grow," the Ohio Republican said.
"It is also imperative we ensure that federal, state and local agencies, along with our public health infrastructure, are prepared, remain vigilant, and follow proper protocols to identify the virus and take appropriate measures for those who have been exposed to it," Boehner said.
I know a lot of you have no use for the Ohio Republican, for reasons I will never understand, but you can't argue with him on this. It's common sense. It's pre-emption. It's solving a problem before it arrives. Is this really so complicated?
Exit question: Here's an experiment for Democrats: When the next ebola patient emerges - and s/he will - treat that ebola patient by burying him or her in a pallet of money fresh from Janet Yellen's printing presses. See if that works. And if it doesn't, then shut the hell up.
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