There’s an old saying that aptly describes what we witnessed as the coronation of our latest Federal Czar occured- When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Rest easy America if you are worried about Ebola spreading in the US; we are blessed with our President’s latest creation to solve the problem…in the debris wake of hand-wringing, indecision, confusion and general ineptitude, meet Ron Klain, our newly minted Ebola-Czar.

At first glance (and second through fifth), Ron’s resume seems to support his manifest un-fitness to be our nation’s point-man to cordon a deadly viral pandemic. Silly you- your first mistake was belief that this is his role, and the impetus for his installation.

Relate this to today’s theme about the nail and the hammer. For about six years we have endured the Executive branch of our nation’s government operating in a closed-loop, echo-chamber style of deliberation and decision-making. Witness the leaks confirming this when a party stalwart like the venerable Leon Panetta in his recently published book- Worthy Fights, details his experiences and frustrations with the process as a virtual outside-insider during his roles as the administration’s Director of the CIA and ultimately the Secretary of Defense.  Not exactly minor-league roles whose point of view can be dismissed…

Rule One of the Echo-Chamber…Political expediency and outcome predominate.

Panetta tells out of school tales confirming the pattern of virtually all Executive deliberations and eventual policy actions; a small cadre of loyal political advisers shape decisions and leave the heads of massive Federal bureaucracies on the outside looking in with little voice. The exception to the whispers in his ear is our Executive’s use of his own intuition, experiences, sense of the world and core principles to guide strategies and tactics in the face of all challenges domestic and global. The image of him summoning his inner-voice while holding his Magic-Eight-Ball is too obvious to resist.

The Ron Klain appointment as Ebola-Czar is the latest example of favoring the installation of a political operative over exploiting in-place, costly & precious resources. Here’s an option- if there isn’t an exact fit within the structure of an existing resource, simply re-direct it and divert it to suit.

In the hodgepodge of Federal Bureaucracy replete with entities whose names are engrained in our minds like- The Department of Health and Human Services, The National Institute of Health, and here is my favorite- The Center for Disease Control (could a more aptly named government organization exist if you polled randomly to figure out who citizens think should be in charge of a potential outbreak of a deadly pathogen?), one would think we could pull out a person and his or her staff to be the point-person for Ebola. Here’s another one that seems sensible. Review the role of Surgeon General of the United States of America.

Now before you exclaim that Congress has blocked the appointment of a new Surgeon General, keep in mind that like any good government bureaucracy, there are career employees operating full-time in the ranks below political appointee.  Think of fancy titles like Assistant Under Secretary, Director etc.  The point being that we don’t need a body in place acting as the Surgeon General to use the entities experienced resources and senior management to address a public health crisis.  Said differently, it is not as if the organization has been on semi-permanent vacation awaiting the appointment of the new boss.

The job description for the office of the Surgeon General of the US seems tailor-made for the work that we now discover can only be done by the creation and appointment of an Ebola Czar. At the top of the job description are the roles of inter-agency coordination and communication for all matters related to our nation’s health crisis affairs. Now we can connect the dots to today’s theme. In the end, there are only political problems (nails), the solution therefore must always be- install a political operative to quell the hysteria (the hammer).

We will witness the standard epilogue when the Ebola crisis wanes. The glorious press conference with the requisite banners in the background that say- “Ebola- Kaaa-Powww!”, or the White House lawn ceremony announcing the crisis has been dutifully and expertly handled.- the award of medals; the hugging and kissing of surviving victims or perhaps for the less fortunate, the hugging and kissing of their relatives, cameras panning to tearful audience members, and lastly and most importantly the review of the lessons learned and how government will forever more be prepared to save us.

Be assured that after Ebola is in the rear-view mirror, Czar-Klain will not have to suffer the indignity of being another casualty of the national pandemic of un/under-employment. He will certainly move on, but somewhere in the bowels of the Old Executive Office Building near the White House, a group of folks will remain clustered to forever serve us with a name like Global Pandemic Rapid Response Co-ordination and Communications Team