Senator: Obama Must Fire CDC Director

‘I think his response to the crisis has been pathetic’

WND

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is ripping President Obama’s “political” choice to be the administration’s Ebola response coordinator and says Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Thomas Frieden needs to be fired, and the U.S. Congress should be reconvened to pass travel restrictions on people linked to the African nations hit hardest by the Ebola outbreak.

On Friday, just hours after saying he hadn’t decided whether to appoint an “Ebola czar,” Obama tapped Ron Klain for the job. In that role, Klain will report to National Security adviser Susan Rice and Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco.

Klain served as chief of staff to former Vice President Al Gore and held the same position from 2009-2011 for Vice President Joe Biden. Klain may be best known for his role with the Gore campaign during the Florida recount following the 2000 presidential election.

The choice leaves Vitter confused and unimpressed.

“I’m still looking for (his) health-care background,” he said. “Maybe it’s there. I’m still looking for that. In terms of a manager, he quite frankly seems more of a political manager than a strong policy manager.”

Regardless of the appointment of Klain as the response coordinator, Vitter said it is imperative that Obama relieve Frieden from his position as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

“I think his response to the crisis has been pathetic,” he said. “I think that was underscored again yesterday with his testimony before the House committee. He didn’t have strong, clear answers and he hasn’t had strong, clear actions. So he’s not the leader we need. President Obama needs to fire him and have a strong, competent leader at the CDC and elsewhere who can lead this effort.”

According to Vitter, there are three glaring reasons why Frieden has lost credibility and must be dismissed.

“Number one, the CDC has not been competent and proactive in terms of helping the hospitals involved with adequate protocols,” he said. “We now know, after all this happy talk about strict protocols, that they weren’t in place anywhere near in time that they had to be.”

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Reposted with permission