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David Axelrod

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17 Oct, 2014

Obama shows frustration

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President Obama is reported to show frustration in private meetings about the Ebola response, as medical officials have given information that later turned out to be wrong, guidance to local health teams has been inadequate, and it’s unclear which patients belong in which threat categories. Obama:

It’s not tight.

Axelrod:

Part of the challenge is to be assertive, to be in command, and yet not feed a kind of panic that could easily evolve here. It’s not enough to doggedly and persistently push for answers in meetings. You have to be seen doggedly and persistently pushing for answers.

People familiar with the situation say the President has placed a lot of blame on the CDC for the inadequate response. They say that a ‘business-as-usual’ attitude that persisted after Duncan’s case changed abruptly when Vinson was infected. Aide:

This Frontier thing took it out of the abstract thing and to this level where people could identify with and made them scared

They say the White House has begun to return to normal with the appointment of Klain to head the response to the virus.

23 Feb, 2015

Defends Obama

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In an interview with Couric, Axelrod speaks out against Rudy Giuliani, who has implied that Obama doesn’t love America.

I don’t know anybody who has…a deeper feeling about this country than the President. And I don’t know anybody who’s expressed it more eloquently over a long period of time. So I really wrote it off to, frankly, a fading politician trying to light himself on fire and make himself relevant.