Swine flu and the new administration

Here are a few tweets from minutes and hours ago, almost all concerned with swine flu (culled from BNO news at 5:49 PST on 4/26):

  1. California school closed as officials investigate suspected swine flu case; second case being investigated in Ohio: http://adjix.com/axm7

  2. Kyodo: Government expects Japan’s economy to shrink postwar worst 3.3% in FY 2009.

  3. Authorities investigate eleven possible swine flu cases in Colombia and Minister Palacio says the government is on high alert – local media.

  4. JUST IN — Local authorities say that 6 more people have died from suspected swine flu in Mexico, which would raise the death toll to 92.

  5. Two people have been taken to an hospital in Queensland, Australia with swine flu symptoms, Sky News Australia reports.

  6. Medical staff has been dispatched to Auckland Airport and all passengers from the Americas are being screened before entry into the country.

  7. The New Zealand Ministry of Health says another student, suspected to have been infected with swine flu, has been hospitalized.

  8. Reuters: Exit poll says Ecuador’s president Correa re-elected with 54 percent of the vote.

  9. NEWS ALERT — NY Gov. David Paterson is holding a news conference regarding the swine flu epidemic. @mpoppel is covering it live.

  10. Texas officials say they have found a number of additional suspected swine flu cases. The 14 closures will take effect immediately.

  11. KSAT-TV: Texas closes 14 schools and district facilities in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District due to swine flu.

Here’s the problem with that oh-so-efficient Obama administration:

The Obama administration declared a “public health emergency” Sunday to confront the swine flu — but is heading into its first medical outbreak without a secretary of Health and Human Services or appointees in any of the department’s 19 key posts.

And here’s Obama’s response to the whole thing:

President Obama went golfing and the Department of Health and Human Services is short a secretary, so other U.S. officials took the controls Sunday as the Obama administration ramps up efforts to find and isolate U.S. cases of swine flu.

As the Watcher of Weasels points out, Obama’s getting a pass on this cavalier attitude from precisely the same people who still, to this day, castigate George Bush for having the presence of mind not to run screaming from a room full of elementary school children when he first heard about the Twin Towers.  (The Watcher points out a whole lot more stuff that’s worth reading on this topic, too.)  There’s a difference between no panicking people (George Bush) and not caring (Obama).

Obama may be right up there with God, but I’m not feeling very good about having his administration in charge right now.