PC Obama Wrong on Ebola

PC Obama Wrong on Ebola

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

October 24, 2014

Once again, Barack Obama’s myopic fecklessness has put Americans in harm’s way. This is not a race issue. This is not a public relations issue. Instead this is a health issue that knows no bounds, does not discriminate amongst the races or genders, and has no cure.

Obama could have done the right thing – the same thing that 30 African nations did; the same thing that countless other countries did – ban travel to the United States from West Africa, the home of the latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

With the latest revelation that Dr. Craig Spencer, working with Doctors Without Borders, returned to the United States and had been wandering around the Hamilton Heights section of New York City in recent days is the latest victim of Ebola, now more than ever it is incumbent upon Obama to take action – real action.

Spencer had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea. Make no mistake, Spencer is selfless for his actions as a doctor, putting others before himself, but as a doctor he should have known better than to return to the United States and inflict himself among the general population of this nation’s largest city – or anywhere else for that matter.

Spencer is now the fourth person in the United States to contract the deadly virus, putting potentially hundreds of thousands, if not more in a precarious health situation. This could have been prevented had Obama not taken the politically correct path – a path well worn out by now, and shut the doors to all those traveling to the United States from West Africa.

Obama should have taken the advice of US Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) who wisely suggested, on the heels of Obama’s refusal to institute the travel ban, that those traveling to the United States from countries such as Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone be automatically quarantined for the 21 day period prescribed by the CDC. People exhibiting symptoms of the virus would either get better or die – a short menu when there is no cure. This is precisely what happened to Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan. “Ebola symptoms can take up to 21 days to appear — a dormancy period that allowed Duncan to enter the U.S. undetected. Ebola patients are not contagious until symptoms arise.” (www.thehill.com 10/09/14)

Calls for travel bans are bi-partisan, reaching across the aisle as among those speaking out include two Democrats from Florida. Senator Bill Nelson and US Rep. Dennis Ross both called for travel bans.

"My constituents and I do not want to begin the venture of quarantining those living in our country. Unfortunately, by allowing travel to and from countries that have been infected with this deadly virus, we could be heading in that direction. This is the only way to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the United States and its citizens is preserved," Ross said. (www.thehill.com 10/09/14)

Obama initially said it is “unlikely anyone with Ebola will reach our shores,” on September 16. A month later his sentiments were echoed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who after Spencer was identified as an Ebola carrier, said, “There’s no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed.” Yet the bowling alley Spencer patronized this week has been shut down.

There is a difference between being “cautiously optimistic,” as Obama declared himself, versus simply being blinded by political correctness and not wanting to offend the African nations in question. At one point the Obama administration determined the economic cost to the African countries would be too great were a travel ban imposed. If it’s a choice between their money or our lives, there is no contest. (It’s the latter, Mr. Obama, in case you needed a hint.)

Wake up, Mr. Obama, this is a life and death situation and if 30 African countries can impose travel restrictions, so can the United States – a nation that should be leading, not following. But this is a typically tepid Obama reaction. Reactive, once again, not proactive. This is not leading from behind, as Obama famously likes to claim, it is simply being behind. Obama is not leader of the world, in spite of what he and his genuflecting acolytes like to believe. He is supposed to be leader of the United States and looking out for what is best for the American people.

Lead by leading, Mr. Obama. Impose the travel ban. Require all those exhibiting symptoms of Ebola be quarantined for the 21 day period as recommended by the CDC and demonstrate that you give a damn about the American people – for once.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.