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 Klain, a former senior aide in two Democratic administrations who
is known for his keen political antenna, also must smooth over
tensions with lawmakers who are angry about the government's
missteps and mixed messages.
Klain has been dismissed as a political operative by Republicans
because he lacks a medical background.
But administration officials and his associates describe him as a
problem solver who understands the levers of government and can
ensure smoother coordination among an array of agencies such as the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes
of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.
“Many times in these complex responses you have to combine resources
across agencies, work across boundaries,” said Thad Cochran, the
former Coast Guard chief who served in a similar role leading the
administration's response to the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
"There are ... policy issues that kind of swirl around all of this
that are more the subject of folks that work in Congress and the
administration. But the person who is working the problem needs to
be focused purely on carrying out the operation that solves the
problem on behalf of the American people."
Klain met on Saturday with White House chief of staff Denis
McDonough, though he does not start his job officially until this
week.
Klain, who has a reputation as a "fixer" for top Democrats, has
served as chief of staff to both Vice President Joe Biden and former
Vice President Al Gore.
He oversaw Gore's Florida recount operation in the disputed 2000
election and helped President Barack Obama recover from his
disastrous first debate against Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012
presidential race.
Klain has remained a familiar presence at the White House, making
roughly 75 visits there between January 2011, when he stepped down
as Biden's top aide, and June 2014, according to visitor logs.
Stephen Morrison, an expert in global health policy at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies, said Klain could take some
heat off public health professionals so they can focus on their jobs
while he navigates the politics.
“This is somebody who knows how to use the bully pulpit that he’s
been given. I think that’s probably half of the game,” Morrison
said.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
At least initially, though, Klain seems likely to focus on the
behind-the-scenes aspects of his job. An NIH official, Dr. Anthony
Fauci, represented the administration on the Sunday TV news programs
this week, not Klain.
Restoring public trust will be key. The CDC has come in for sharp
criticism for its handling of the cases of two nurses who were
infected with Ebola after treating a Liberian man, Thomas Eric
Duncan, at a Dallas hospital before he died.
Critics say missteps by the CDC may have put nurses Nina Pham and
Amber Vinson, as well as their contacts, at risk.
"(Klain) can have eyes over CDC to make sure they are aggressive,"
said Neera Tanden, a former White House official who now leads the
Center for American Progress.
"They now have swat teams going to all locations with Ebola
patients, but clearly that is something they should have been doing
earlier," she said.
But Scott Gottlieb, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
think tank, said Klain was ill-suited to the role and, echoing other
critics, said Obama should have chosen someone with experience in
handling public health emergencies.
"It befuddles me what they want" for the Ebola czar job, Gottlieb
said. "You want someone who can help coordinate across NIH, CDC,
FDA; someone who understands the issues, the optics and knows what
to ask for and knows who to go to," Gottlieb said, adding, "There is
a very steep learning curve."
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Gabriel Debendetti;
Editing by Michael Perry)
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