In most countries all over the world the President is the person with the widest range of duties and responsibilities. He is a guarantor of the whole nation’s well-being and prosperity. Therefore, in order to run the country effectively the President is obliged to be a true leader. However, even for the President it is not an easy task to preserve his leadership skills all the time. When the country is hit by some unpredictable horrible disaster the Presidential support for the population is required.

Unfortunately, nowadays the USA is riding the storm. The Ebola pandemic spreads panic among the society. It is a high time for the President to show his leadership characteristics and to demonstrate the ability to cope with the arising problems in the most effective way. In my opinion, the leadership skills of Barack Obama cannot be estimated as excellent, but he is not a bad leader either. First of all, it should be mentioned that in the circumstances the President’s functions are complicated. Barack Obama strives to develop his politics in two main directions: calming the population and getting rid of the disease.

On the one hand, President Obama demonstrated a great anxiety towards the problem and support to his people by postponing the tour to Connecticut and Rhode Island. The time planned for the trips he devoted to the issue of Ebola spread through the United States. In such a way Obama emphasized that the population’s safety is his top priority. I also liked him kissing the nurses who were in contact with Ebola-infected patients. That gesture was intended to demonstrate to the public that the disease is not easily transmitted from person to person. Thus, the President somehow managed to release the emotional stress of people and demonstrated readiness to be exposed to the danger as any other person in his society.

On the other hand, many of the President’s actions remain illogical to general public. For example, the fact that Obama still has not banned the flights from the worst Ebola-affected African countries. There is a great deal of critics concerning this point. The population’s anxiety is growing with each announcement about a new infected American citizen. People do not understand why the President remains silent to the problem of national boarders’ security. The fear of people is not groundless. Ebola is a cruel disease ruthlessly killing people infected by it. According to the statistics, there have been more than three thousand deaths caused by the fatal illness from September 2014 in Africa (NH Health Alert Network, 2014, p.3). The figures speak for themselves. The fact that still there is no vaccine against Ebola and that the disease is spreading extremely quickly increases the alarm among the American population.

Fairly speaking, being a great proponent of Barack Obama I do not completely agree with the Presidential politics concerning Ebola disease. First of all, I do not understand the reason for Ronald Klain’s appointment as an “Ebola response coordinator”. To my mind, a person who is not competent in public health area, not speaking about such catastrophic pandemic as Ebola, cannot hold such a position of responsibility. He is not trustworthy and thus cannot become an effective leader in the campaign. If I was in the Obama’s shoes I would have recommended either Ben Carson or Bill Frist to fill the vacancy of Ebola czar. Both of them are prominent surgeons and their contribution into medical science is hard to overestimate. Moreover, Bill Frist is also a gifted politician who served in the U.S. Senate from Tennessee for two terms (Forbes, 2014). That indicates a great support and respect from the American society towards his candidature. Moreover, from this day forward I would forbid the flights from Africa to the USA and vice versa. That is the easiest and the most logical thing to be implemented.

As a conclusion it should be said that the assessment of somebody’s leadership skills is a subjective issue. This holds true for Obama as well. The President has its proponents as well as the opponents. Some people are deeply devoted to him and take his promises at face value while others reject even the noblest gesture. However, even though Obama makes mistakes, his behavior deserves respect for being exclusively people-oriented.

References

Obama’s Ebola czar is a dangerous mistake: Here are three who could do the job (2014, October,19) In Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2014/10/19/obamas-ebola-czar-is-a-dangerous-mistake-here-are-3-who-could-do-the-job/

NH Health Alert Network (2014). First case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) diagnosed in the US. Retrieved from: http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/alerts/documents/ebola-in-usa.pdf

Spears, C. (2010). Character and servant leadership: Ten characteristics of effective, caring leaders. The Journal of Virtue and Leadership. Retrieved from: http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jvl/vol1_iss1/Spears_Final.pdf