Why is GOP Acting Like Obama Is GOD in This Ebola Crisis?

Dear God! How could you unleash this lethal Ebola virus on your faithful servants?  We implore you. Please STOP IT THIS INSTANT!

I understand there are members of the Republican Party who believe that the earth is 5,000 years old, and that science is satanic, but I wouldn't have thought anyone in his or her right mind believed the President of the United States could shut down a lethal African virus with the wave of a hand or a White House decree.  But that is all I'm hearing from Republicans these days.  The Ebola virus is a global crisis. It is not the fault of the President of the United States.

Of course our nation can either assume a leadership position and do something about it, which I'm pleased to say is what the President has done.  The virus needs to be isolated and contained within the three West African countries through which it has spread.  Or, we can sink into a fear-mongering panic about closing all the borders around Africa, a continent the size of the U.S., China, Europe and SE Asia, all rolled up in one.  Of course the latter move would do nothing to stop the virus. Not only would it spread. But since we cannot monitor our southern border anyway, the global spread of the virus, would fling it across the United States within weeks once it had entered the U.S. illegally.

The solution to this crisis is to stop it in West Africa.  The epidemiological goal for this particular disease is 70%.  After that percentage of infected people are isolated from the general population (whether or not they are cured) the disease will peter out and disappear.

The disease is not easy to catch unless you are caring for a dying person or handling a dead body.  So Americans worrying about airborne transmission, coughing and sneezing are putting themselves in an unnecessary panic.  The only reason so many people have died in the three African countries is because they lack an infrastructure.  Patients need to be isolated from the general public. But without hospitals, their families are trying to care for them at home. In many cases, the family has no running water, no indoor plumbing and no means of protecting themselves, other than covering themselves in plastic garbage bags, if they can find them.

It is regrettable that those with nothing constructive to offer, turn to stoking public fear and launching nonsensical campaigns about closing borders, that will not stop the spread of the disease but probably make it worse.  And I find the President's critics all the more puzzling, in that they're denouncing him for being incompetent in leading the country through this crisis, as though he can control microbes. But the public is beginning to see through this charade. Who would you rather have leading us through this pandemic?  Would it be a President who sent troops amidst criticism to stop the epidemic at its source even before the public got wind of what a global threat this virus could pose.  Or would you prefer a bunch of anti-science rabble rousers shouting about closing borders after they already closed down the government last year including the Centers for Disease Control?

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