[BostonCard]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...us/605752/

Klain, you will remember, was Obama's Ebola czar.  He published the piece on January 30.

The U.S. government has the tools, talent, and team to help fight the coronavirus abroad and minimize its impact at home. But the combination of Trump’s paranoia toward experienced government officials (who lack “loyalty” to him), inattention to detail, opinionated rejection of science and evidence, and isolationist instincts may prove toxic when it comes to managing a global-health security challenge. To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date, set aside his own terrible instincts, lead from the White House, and work closely with foreign leaders and global institutions—all things he has failed to do in his first 1,200 days in office.

BC

[BostonCard]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...us/605752/

Klain, you will remember, was Obama's Ebola czar.  He published the piece on January 30.

The U.S. government has the tools, talent, and team to help fight the coronavirus abroad and minimize its impact at home. But the combination of Trump’s paranoia toward experienced government officials (who lack “loyalty” to him), inattention to detail, opinionated rejection of science and evidence, and isolationist instincts may prove toxic when it comes to managing a global-health security challenge. To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date, set aside his own terrible instincts, lead from the White House, and work closely with foreign leaders and global institutions—all things he has failed to do in his first 1,200 days in office.

BC

[fullmetal]

Prescient and correct, to our great misfortune.  Here's hoping his forward-thinking attitude can turn the tide of the pandemic.

[fullmetal]

Prescient and correct, to our great misfortune.  Here's hoping his forward-thinking attitude can turn the tide of the pandemic.

[Mick]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...us/605752/

Klain, you will remember, was Obama's Ebola czar.  He published the piece on January 30.

The U.S. government has the tools, talent, and team to help fight the coronavirus abroad and minimize its impact at home. But the combination of Trump’s paranoia toward experienced government officials (who lack “loyalty” to him), inattention to detail, opinionated rejection of science and evidence, and isolationist instincts may prove toxic when it comes to managing a global-health security challenge. To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date, set aside his own terrible instincts, lead from the White House, and work closely with foreign leaders and global institutions—all things he has failed to do in his first 1,200 days in office.

BC

He was their swine flu czar too, right?  Same guy who said:

“It is purely a fortuity that this isn’t one of the great mass casualty events in American history,” Ron Klain, who was Biden’s chief of staff at the time, said of H1N1 in 2019. “It had nothing to do with us doing anything right. It just had to do with luck. If anyone thinks that this can’t happen again, they don’t have to go back to 1918, they just have to go back to 2009, 2010 and imagine a virus with a different lethality, and you can just do the math on that.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/04...rus-232992

[Mick]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...us/605752/

Klain, you will remember, was Obama's Ebola czar.  He published the piece on January 30.

The U.S. government has the tools, talent, and team to help fight the coronavirus abroad and minimize its impact at home. But the combination of Trump’s paranoia toward experienced government officials (who lack “loyalty” to him), inattention to detail, opinionated rejection of science and evidence, and isolationist instincts may prove toxic when it comes to managing a global-health security challenge. To succeed, Trump will have to trust the kind of government experts he has disdained to date, set aside his own terrible instincts, lead from the White House, and work closely with foreign leaders and global institutions—all things he has failed to do in his first 1,200 days in office.

BC

He was their swine flu czar too, right?  Same guy who said:

“It is purely a fortuity that this isn’t one of the great mass casualty events in American history,” Ron Klain, who was Biden’s chief of staff at the time, said of H1N1 in 2019. “It had nothing to do with us doing anything right. It just had to do with luck. If anyone thinks that this can’t happen again, they don’t have to go back to 1918, they just have to go back to 2009, 2010 and imagine a virus with a different lethality, and you can just do the math on that.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/04...rus-232992

[dabigv13]

Finally, some competent leadership. Think of how many American lives would be saved if we could move the inauguration up to today.

Trump and his gang have an election to overturn, can't be bothered to deal with the most pressing public health crisis in a century.

[dabigv13]

Finally, some competent leadership. Think of how many American lives would be saved if we could move the inauguration up to today.

Trump and his gang have an election to overturn, can't be bothered to deal with the most pressing public health crisis in a century.

[BostonCard]

Yes on the quote, but no on being swine flu czar; just Ebola czar.  Obama was lucky that the virus killed less than 1/20 the number of Americans who have died of COVID-19.  But also, I wonder if the CFR had been closer to COVID’s and the country was looking at 300,000 deaths, whether the reaction might have been different.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-el...blogHeader

I don’t see anything about a “czar” appointed to handle the swine flu.  Maybe the Obama administration learned something, by the time Ebola came around.

BC

[BostonCard]

Yes on the quote, but no on being swine flu czar; just Ebola czar.  Obama was lucky that the virus killed less than 1/20 the number of Americans who have died of COVID-19.  But also, I wonder if the CFR had been closer to COVID’s and the country was looking at 300,000 deaths, whether the reaction might have been different.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-el...blogHeader

I don’t see anything about a “czar” appointed to handle the swine flu.  Maybe the Obama administration learned something, by the time Ebola came around.

BC

[82 Card]

I guess its time to resume the Great Czar War of 2009. What's with all these czars? Why not czar for this? It doesn't matter what Biden does, the Republicans will claim it's the end of democracy or capitalism or something, even if he adopts republican policies wholesale like Obama did.

[82 Card]

I guess its time to resume the Great Czar War of 2009. What's with all these czars? Why not czar for this? It doesn't matter what Biden does, the Republicans will claim it's the end of democracy or capitalism or something, even if he adopts republican policies wholesale like Obama did.

[Genuine Realist]

I guess its time to resume the Great Czar War of 2009. What's with all these czars? Why not czar for this? It doesn't matter what Biden does, the Republicans will claim it's the end of democracy or capitalism or something, even if he adopts republican policies wholesale like Obama did.

My own reaction to this is much more prosaic.

Why, in January, doesn't the Chief Executive Officer run right out and recruit this guy to head a task force? Someone with experience in the administration and a failure behind him, i.e., a learning experience, would seem ideal.

In World War II, FDR was quick to recruit competent Republican opponents. Kennedy's very competent Secretary of the Treasury was Republican. Obama profited enormously in his first term from Robert Gates, and Petraeus, and his second term suffered as a result of their absence.

Trump is no longer President, despite some considerable foreign policy and domestic success, because everything was personal with him. This illustrates the point.

[Genuine Realist]

I guess its time to resume the Great Czar War of 2009. What's with all these czars? Why not czar for this? It doesn't matter what Biden does, the Republicans will claim it's the end of democracy or capitalism or something, even if he adopts republican policies wholesale like Obama did.

My own reaction to this is much more prosaic.

Why, in January, doesn't the Chief Executive Officer run right out and recruit this guy to head a task force? Someone with experience in the administration and a failure behind him, i.e., a learning experience, would seem ideal.

In World War II, FDR was quick to recruit competent Republican opponents. Kennedy's very competent Secretary of the Treasury was Republican. Obama profited enormously in his first term from Robert Gates, and Petraeus, and his second term suffered as a result of their absence.

Trump is no longer President, despite some considerable foreign policy and domestic success, because everything was personal with him. This illustrates the point.

[BostonCard]

Who are you referring to as "this guy".  If Klain, Biden has tapped him to be the Chief of Staff.  If you are referring to some members of the Trump COVID-19 task force, like Fauci or Brix, then I agree that they should be kept on.  If you are referring to the swine flu czar, I'm not sure there was one, which might itself be the lesson.

BC

[BostonCard]

Who are you referring to as "this guy".  If Klain, Biden has tapped him to be the Chief of Staff.  If you are referring to some members of the Trump COVID-19 task force, like Fauci or Brix, then I agree that they should be kept on.  If you are referring to the swine flu czar, I'm not sure there was one, which might itself be the lesson.

BC

[Genuine Realist]

Who are you referring to as "this guy".  If Klain, Biden has tapped him to be the Chief of Staff.  If you are referring to some members of the Trump COVID-19 task force, like Fauci or Brix, then I agree that they should be kept on.  If you are referring to the swine flu czar, I'm not sure there was one, which might itself be the lesson.

BC

I was referring to Klain, to Trump, and what Trump should have done ten months ago. Klain was a natural to head up a task force, both in background and temperament (as evidenced by the acknowledgment of error.) So why has he been on the sidelines? Because he's in the wrong Party? Good God.

[Genuine Realist]

Who are you referring to as "this guy".  If Klain, Biden has tapped him to be the Chief of Staff.  If you are referring to some members of the Trump COVID-19 task force, like Fauci or Brix, then I agree that they should be kept on.  If you are referring to the swine flu czar, I'm not sure there was one, which might itself be the lesson.

BC

I was referring to Klain, to Trump, and what Trump should have done ten months ago. Klain was a natural to head up a task force, both in background and temperament (as evidenced by the acknowledgment of error.) So why has he been on the sidelines? Because he's in the wrong Party? Good God.

[BostonCard]

I was referring to Klain, to Trump, and what Trump should have done ten months ago. Klain was a natural to head up a task force, both in background and temperament (as evidenced by the acknowledgment of error.) So why has he been on the sidelines? Because he's in the wrong Party? Good God.

Ah, that makes sense. I guess it says something about Trump that although your suggestion ought to be self-evident didn't even enter my mind since it is so anathema to Trump.

BC

[BostonCard]

I was referring to Klain, to Trump, and what Trump should have done ten months ago. Klain was a natural to head up a task force, both in background and temperament (as evidenced by the acknowledgment of error.) So why has he been on the sidelines? Because he's in the wrong Party? Good God.

Ah, that makes sense. I guess it says something about Trump that although your suggestion ought to be self-evident didn't even enter my mind since it is so anathema to Trump.

BC