Thursday, September 4, 2014

After discussions with me and having me see and edit his column, Mike Gerson wrote a scorching editorial in today’s Washington Post criticizing the world and the White House for not doing more for the Ebola situation. In my discussions with Mike, he indicated that when he was in the WH with Josh Bolton as Chief-of-Staff, they would have pushed George W. Bush and he would have responded to do something dramatic to help West Africa. Mike sent me a note that Denis McDonough (Obama Chief-of-Staff) sent to Mike in response to Mike sending Denis a copy of the article. Denis note to Mike below: Tony, In confidence, this is the note Denis sent back to me when I sent him the link to the column. I thought you might be interested. Thanks, Michael. It is good to hear from you, and I look forward to reading your column (which I have not yet had the chance to do but will soon). I did think it was worth mentioning that the President had a good – if alarming – discussion with Dr. Frieden on Monday after Tom returned from the region where he went to get a candid view of how this is progressing. Tom was concerned with what he saw, and the President was concerned with the same. As a result, POTUS directed even more aggressive action than we have been taking so as to treat this like the national security challenge it is. Lisa, who is leading this effort, and John may have additional thoughts. But we feel this urgency – deeply. Thanks again for the note, Denis. Press – MSNBC with Ronan Farrow,