Ebola Arrival In America: Day 2

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:  Ebola In America.
Day 1 : Yesterday, news broke that the first case of Ebola in America had been discovered in Dallas, Texas. The infected individual had recently returned from Liberia -- "ground zero" in the latest outbreak of this deadly disease. More than 1,800 people have died from Ebola in Liberia.

The infected individual arrived in the U.S. on September 20th to visit family members. He went to the hospital on September 26th, was treated for flu-like symptoms and was sent home. Two days later, he went back to the hospital in far more serious condition. Three Dallas paramedics who treated him are being quarantined for 21 days to see if they develop any symptoms.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, assured the country yesterday that there was nothing to worry about. "We're stopping it in its tracks in this country," Dr. Frieden said.

Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, a former top scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, isn't so sure. "It is quite appropriate to be concerned on many fronts," Dr. Goodman said. ". . .it appears several people were exposed before the individual was placed in isolation, and it is quite possible that one or more of his contacts will be infected." Press reports today suggest that has in fact happened.

We all hope and pray for the best. I hope the CDC is a lot more effective, efficient and knowledgeable than other federal agencies, such as the Veterans Administration, where incompetence and greed resulted in the abuse of our heroes. But in the past nine months there have been repeated incidents uncovered at the CDC in which officials failed to appropriately handle deadly toxins, including smallpox.

Another thought came to mind overnight as I was pondering this latest news. There has been a long string of presidential pronouncements that were later disproved by events. For example:

"Al Qaeda has been decimated and is on the run." Benghazi proved otherwise. This Obama quote has gotten a lot of press lately: ". . .if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant." That was Obama back in January dismissing ISIS as a junior varsity team.

Obama said at the U.N. a few days ago that the threat of world war that hung over the U.N. at its founding no longer existed. Yes it does. Even the pope recognizes that.

Here's one we hear almost daily: "Islam is a religion of peace." But large numbers of Islamists tell us theirs is a religion of war.

How about this one: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." That was the "Lie of the Year."

And just two weeks ago, Obama said: ". . .the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. . . . In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores. . ." Well, Ebola is here now, Mr. Obama.

There's been a theory for a long time that whenever something is asserted on the cover of major news magazines, it is the time to do the exact opposite. So if Time declares this is a "Roaring Bull Market," sell your stocks. I'm beginning to think that the "magazine indicator" is going to be replaced by the "Obama indicator." Whatever Obama asserts, assume the exact opposite is true.

Day 2: Forty-eight hours after reports of the first confirmed case of Ebola in America made headlines, the news isn't getting any better. The more we learn the more questions we have.

We now know that the Ebola victim, Thomas Duncan, DID inform the hospital staff during his first visit that he had recently been in Liberia. That very same hospital had also just performed "a run-through of procedures to follow if an Ebola case presented there." In spite of this, confusion prevailed and Mr. Duncan was sent home with antibiotics.

Yesterday, we were told that officials were monitoring approximately 12 to 18 people for possible contact. Today the New York Times reports that officials have "reached out to as many as 100 people who may have had contact" with Duncan. Those being closely monitored include five children who attend four Dallas schools.

Understandably, many parents are worried. Some are keeping their kids home today. And, of course, they are being criticized for doing so. But when a hospital fails to follow its own procedures and when the number the people being monitored quintuples in 24 hours, it's hard to blame parents for having second thoughts about the information they are getting from health officials.

By the way, left-wing demagogues are now using Ebola to advance their racial and ideological agenda. Louis Farrakhan is calling Ebola "a race targeting weapon" created to kill black people. The Obama Administration has not yet condemned this disgusting claim. As you may recall, the church Barack Obama sat in for nearly 20 years gave this black Muslim demagogue an award!

President Obama's Priorities: Many of you are asking about Ebola-related travel restrictions. That's a fair question given that there are more than 13,000 visa holders from countries currently battling this horrific disease. ExxonMobil announced today that it was prohibiting employees from traveling to West Africa.

These questions reminded me that just a few weeks ago, Obama did not hesitate to shut down air traffic to Israel after ONE rocket landed nearly a mile away from Ben Gurion Airport. I don't think that decision had anything to do with the safety of Americans. It was all about political pressure. Even the Washington Post described the flight ban as "the most direct pressure yet" on Israel "to cut short its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza."

Now that one Ebola victim has landed in Dallas -- something Obama assured us was an "unlikely event" -- surely he is going to shut down air traffic from the countries most ravaged by this disease, right? Wrong.

Obama's Press Secretary Josh Earnest yesterday downplayed the risks as "incredibly low," and expressed his confidence that "the sophisticated medical infrastructure" here "can prevent the wide spread of Ebola." But that same system failed when it sent Duncan home.

These incidents speak volumes about Obama's priorities. He's quick to punish Israel but hesitates to do the obvious when it comes to protecting Americans from a dangerous disease.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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