Tavis Smiley: ‘Obama Gets Blamed for Everything Else, Why Not Ebola?’

On This Week Sunday morning, author Tavis Smiley and Republican strategist Mary Matalin crashed over whether President Barack Obama deserved blame for the spread of Ebola in the United States via a Liberian tourist who infected two health care workers.

“The president’s been blamed for everything else, why should he not be blamed for the spread of the Ebola virus in this country,” Smiley said. “This is the worst of America, when we politicize issues like this. These are life and death issues, literally. When we politicize them, it underscores the worst and the darkest side of our media culture and our body politic.”

“The reason the president gets blamed for everything, Tavs [sic], is because he’s responsible for it,” Matalin replied.

“For Ebola?” Smiley asked incredulously.

“No, for his response to it. He didn’t see ISIS coming, the VA hospital, the NSA, the IRS. This is cumulative. The weight of all these previous failures is animating this response to Ebola.”

Watch the clip below, via ABC News:

[Image via screengrab]

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