In his response to the Ebola crisis, President Obama appears to be channeling the spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for whom he has expressed deep admiration.   Like FDR, Obama seems to be committed to the mantra, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

But there are worse things than experiencing fear -- death being among them.

Controlling our emotional response to what the director of the World Health Organization called “the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times” will not stop the spread of disease.  Viruses and microbes have no regard for the emotional state of anyone, be that person calm or hysterical. 

But for the Left, emotion rather than rationality is the key to public policy.  The idea is that if we all stay calm, maybe the Ebola crisis will just disappear.  This is one reason why Obama, ever committed to his image as the secular Messiah, tried by example to show he certainly was not afraid of Ebola.  Imitating the example of St. Francis of Assisi, who famously kissed a leper, the anointed One indicated by his intrepid behavior that he, too, was a saint.  He announced “I hugged and kissed” the nurses who had attended Ebola stricken patients in Atlanta.

Well, good for him.

But in the meantime, the rest of us mere mortals are increasingly concerned about possible infection and are wondering why this administration is not doing something as sensible as closing our borders, screening visa permits and prohibiting flights from Ebola stricken countries from landing at our airports. 

We are wondering why Ron Klain, a fixer lawyer/politician with absolutely no experience in health issues, is appointed “czar” while the post of surgeon general has remained unfilled for over a year.  We are wondering why an Ebola “czar” instead of a health official who really knows something about health is appointed.

After all, health is what the office of Surgeon General is about.  During the 80’s, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, the potential plague of AIDS arrived on the national scene.  It was Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop who rallied the health troops.  He spoke out about the virus from a sound scientific viewpoint, addressing the need to be knowledgeable about how the disease was spread and urging those who were disinclined to change their sexual habits to use condoms in order to keep health risks as minimal as possible.

Koop took a lot of flak from both conservatives and liberals for his bold stances.  But he never attempted to soothe the public with fake optimism or a “What, me worry?” attitude.  He assessed the situation and applied rigorous scientific and medical criteria. Even the Daily Beast admits Koop “remains the gold standard of what a surgeon general can be in times of crisis.”

We need a C. Everett Koop to step up to the plate now.  We do not need another czar who will doubtless attempt more smoke and mirrors tactics to politicize a disease. We don’t need more of the obfuscatory protocol now being put in place in New York City.  As the NY Post reports:

An FDNY memo instructs all personnel to use more vague terms when discussing the deadly disease, which is threatening to become a global pandemic. “At no point shall a dispatcher transmit over the radio any message containing the word ‘Ebola’ or related terminology,” according to the advisory, which was obtained by The Post. Dispatchers instead must use the code letters “F/T,” as in Fever/Travel, to indicate that a 911 caller has a fever and a history of travel to West Africa. “Engine XXX, utilize Universal Precautions — you are responding to a Fever/Travel incident,” dispatchers are now ordered to say.

Supposedly, the directive is meant to minimize panic.  Apparently, minimizing fear itself is top priority, not clarity and honesty.   “Just like you can’t say bomb on an airplane, we can’t say ‘Ebola,’ ” said the source. ‘Back in the ’80s and ’90s, taking universal precautions meant someone has AIDS. And we weren’t allowed to say AIDS either.’ ”

Such ridiculous measures and lack of forthrightness about a disease are bound to create panic, not to diminish it.  They also encourage rumor mongering and conspiracy theories, such as the latest rumor in Sierra Leone that Ebola doesn’t really exist. 

Why our administration would continue to minimize the risk; why it would continue to allow flights into our country from Ebola hot spots; why it would continue to grant visas to people from Ebola-stricken countries is anyone’s guess.

But among those guesses as to why the administration is downplaying the risk and politicizing a dread disease is this one: The Left, being the absolutists they always are, does not want the open border policies endorsed by Obama to be put in jeopardy, even though disease knows no borders and is no respecter of persons.  For a very long time now, the Left has wanted to permanently change the constituency of the U.S. demographic to one that will keep Democrats permanently in power.  Closing the borders would endanger that goal.

To put it another way, the Left fears a slippery slope.  If measures to constrain Ebola include closing borders and stopping flights from infected countries, the president’s border policies will be jeopardized. 

The current administration has put itself between a rock and a hard place politically.  The October surprise of a possible pandemic has it scrambling to look as if it is actually addressing the problem while all the while it is seeking to keep its political goals intact -- all at the expense of Americans’ health and welfare. 

It is obvious to anyone with common sense that the first priority of this administration should be to ensure Americans are not exposed to the Ebola virus.  Are some of us fearful?  Yes, we are.  We don’t believe the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We believe we have good reason to fear when we see a feckless administration working hard to cover up and minimize a real threat to Americans’ health.  

Let’s hope and pray the president and his associates do not continue to go the route of ridiculous denial and politicization of a very dangerous disease.   

In the meantime, Dr. Koop, please come back. 

Kevin Wade is the Republican candidate for Delaware’s U.S. Senate seat.  He may be reached at kevinwade@wadefordelaware.com.  Fay Voshell is a frequent contributor to American Thinker and other online publications. She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com.