President Obama has chosen Ron Klain, former chief of staff for two Democratic vice presidents, as his Ebola czar, the White House said Friday.
“The president has asked Ron Klain to take on the task of coordinating his administration’s whole of government Ebola response,” said a White House official. “He will report directly to the president’s homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and the president’s national security adviser Susan Rice as he ensures that efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don’t distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa.”
After days of resisting the idea, Obama decided to designate a point man for his administration’s Ebola response, which has come under fire in recent days.
In choosing Klain, Obama is selecting a D.C. insider and veteran of numerous political battles to spearhead a campaign with major implications on his own legacy and how Democrats fare in the November midterms.
Klain served as chief of staff for Vice Presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden and has a deep roster of sources on Capitol Hill. He is now the president of Case Holdings and general counsel of Revolution LLC.
“Klain’s role is consistent with the view the president articulated in the Oval Office last night that Monaco, Rice and others have done outstanding work in confronting this challenge so far — but given their management of other national and homeland security priorities, additional bandwidth will further enhance the government’s Ebola response,” the White House official added.
