By John Lillpop ——Bio and Archives--October 27, 2014
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The Obama administration has expressed deep concerns to the governors of New York and New Jersey and is consulting with them to modify their orders to quarantine medical volunteers returning from West Africa as President Obama seeks to quickly develop a new, nationwide policy for the workers, according to two senior administration officials. One administration official said the federal government has been pressing the governors to back off their decisions, which quarantine all medical workers who had contact with Ebola patients. But another official said the administration has not specifically asked the governors to reverse their policies. Mr. Obama held a meeting with his top advisers at the White House on Sunday as officials work to craft a policy that reassures Americans that they are protected from the virus while following the guidance of the government's scientific advisers. Officials said that policy will be ready in days and that the government would urge all states to follow it. On Sunday both governors, Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey, stood by their decisions, saying that the current federal guidelines did not go far enough. Ever since Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, and Mr. Christie, a Republican, announced the plan at a hastily called news conference on Friday evening, top Obama administration officials have been speaking with Mr. Cuomo daily and have also been in touch with Mr. Christie, trying to get them to modify the order. But Mr. Christie said at a fund-raiser in Florida that he had "gotten absolutely no contact" from the White House. But in that time, two more states--Illinois and Florida--announced that they were instituting similar policies, as some members of the public expressed outrage that the infected patient in New York City had used the subway and gone bowling just before developing symptoms. Federal officials made it clear that they do not agree with the governors about the need or effectiveness of a total quarantine for health care workers, though they were careful not to directly criticize the governors themselves."Given Obama's wretched record when it comes to policy judgment, Governors Cuomo and Christie are exactly right to ignore the amateur in the White House and go instead with common sense and logic.
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John W. Lillpop is a recovering liberal. “Clean and sober” since 1992 when last he voted for a Democrat. For years, John lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, the very liberal sanctuary city which protects, rather than prosecutes, certain favored criminals. John escaped the Bay Area in May and now lives in Pine Grove California where conservative values are still in vogue.