[janmcn]

Originally Posted by TexaninVA

First of all, I admire your loyal attempt to defend the indefensible.

Second of all, I can tell by your question (“…who would you appoint”) either you have never worked in Washington or have never been in charge of a very large organization …ie military, business, government etc.

To answer your question -- I would not appoint anyone! I would use the current organization for which, were I President, responsible for and make them produce results, not just soothing words. I would direct the senior cabinet officer official, in this case HHS, to own the problem, and further direct Dod and others in the USG to work in supporting roles to HHS. If they didn’t get results over time, I would fire them, and keep firing them, until I found someone who could solve it. That’s the way the system should work. However, please note if you appoint competent Cabinet officers in the first place, you actually don’t have to fire anyone because guess what … they can actually do what they were hired to do.

You should also be aware of other factors. In Washington, people with political backgrounds who are put in charge of a problem are not taken seriously unless they have two elements of organizational power … power to promote/demote, and budget power. Without that, people will nod, sometimes try to help the ‘czar’ but essentially say “it’s the czar’s problem.” Plus they all know what’s going on, and what kind of problem (ie political) the new czar is really supposed to solve. His true mission is not to solve the Ebola medical problem unfortunately.

There’s another way to quickly deduce that this appointment is essentially a means to divert the bad stream of recent PR surround Ebola. Mr. Klain will be on the job for six months or so (ie career people will thus ignore him) and he reports to two Staff Officers! This is crazy in its own right. So, not only does he not control budget or have any other power, he is not even a direct report to POTUS. Plus, he reports to two bosses, both White House homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, which means neither one of them is really accountable for results either. Mr. Klain will also likely not be taken seriously by the DoD nor HHS NIH, CDC, etc. Everyone will be polite, attend meetings and seem to help of course, but in reality … but nothing much of substance will happen because of Mr. Klain.

Other than that, it was an inspired appointment.

Thanks too for the easy to remember twitter handle … I will be submitting a simple recommendation.

Since this is not a cabinet appointment, President Obama can appoint whoever he wants without senate confirmation (I think that is correct). The opposing party can critique all they like. That's the beauty of free speech, but the fact remains the president's appointee will stay on the job.