President Obama had been slated to visit Union, N.J., for a DSCC fundraiser. Obama vows Ebola 'SWAT team'

President Barack Obama sought to reassure the U.S. public Wednesday that Ebola is under control domestically and that his administration will respond “in a much more aggressive way” to new cases.

After meeting with a group of senior advisers who have been involved in the Ebola response, Obama told reporters that the Centers for Disease Control would deploy a “SWAT team” to “go in as soon as a new case is diagnosed,” preferably within 24 hours.


“We are taking this very seriously at the highest levels of government,” Obama said of the second case contracted on U.S. soil. “And we are going to be able to manage this particular situation, but we have to look to the future.”

Even as some attention goes to cases in the United States, Obama said U.S. officials must “make sure we do not lose sight of” the disease’s course in West Africa. If it spreads more widely there, he warned, it “becomes much more difficult to control” and to contain to one continent.

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Obama, speaking after a meeting with agency officials handling the response, reminded Americans that Ebola can only be contracted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone infected with the disease.

“Here’s what we know about Ebola: It’s not like the flu. It’s not airborne,” he said, adding that last month in Atlanta he shook hands with, hugged and kissed nurses who had been working on the Ebola response there.

Obama canceled campaign stops in New Jersey and Connecticut Wednesday morning in order to hold the hastily scheduled meeting.

Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged that more Americans would likely be diagnosed with the deadly disease but declined to label the cases an outbreak and said the situation in the U.S. was “wholly different” than the epidemic in Africa, which has cost thousands of lives.

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Despite questions about flaws in the system that led two U.S. nurses to contract the disease from a patient they were treating in Dallas, Earnest resisted the suggestion that the administration needs to appoint an “Ebola czar” to coordinate its response, saying that Obama has full confidence in the head of the Centers for Disease Control, Tom Frieden.

“What you are seeing from the federal government … is the kind of tenacious response that reflects evolving circumstances,” Earnest said, later adding that “there’s plenty of reason for people to feel confident about what we’re doing.”

Though some have called for more centralized control by the administration in managing its response, Earnest argued that “We have designated very clear lines of responsibility in terms of which agencies are responsible for which aspects of this response.”

Earnest pointed to White House counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco as “coordinating the activities” of various agencies, but said that the responsibility for specific pieces of the response lies with those agencies.

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But there is “no doubt” that the buck ultimately stops with Obama, Earnest said.

The decision for Obama to stay at the White House on Wednesday was made because he was not going to be “able to host that meeting and travel at the same time,” Earnest said.

Obama was joined by Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Lisa Monaco, a homeland security and counterterrorism adviser who has been coordinating the White House’s response, was also in the room, with Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden participating via videoconference.

Obama has carried on with his travel plans and political activities as other crises have emerged — including after the beheading of a U.S. citizen by Islamic State and amid protests in Ferguson, Missouri, during his August vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

“What drives these kinds of decisions are the president’s responsibilities” in dealing with a specific situation and in this instance his advisers determined that it was best for him to stay in Washington for the afternoon meeting, Earnest said.

The president was facing some rumblings of criticism for choosing to go on the political trip on the same day that the CDC confirmed the second case of Ebola transmitted within the United States, but the White House insisted it was not a political decision.

Pressed by reporters, Earnest said the trip postponement “was not” made for political reasons. “I haven’t given any thoughts to the political consequences … it’s been a very busy day here,” he said.

Obama had been slated to visit Union, New Jersey, for a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser before traveling to Bridgeport, Connecticut, for a campaign rally with Gov. Dannel Malloy. Earnest said both events will be rescheduled before Election Day.

The Connecticut event was to be the president’s first rally of the campaign season. Earlier Wednesday, the White House confirmed his travel plans for the 20 days until Election Day, including stops in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, Maryland and Illinois — all campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial candidates.

On Thursday, Obama is scheduled to travel to Rhode Island for an event on the economy before visiting Long Island for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. Earnest said he didn’t yet have any updates on whether the president would still take that trip, but did say that the situation is “pretty dynamic” within the White House.

The meeting comes hours after the CDC announced that a second Dallas health care worker involved in treating Thomas Duncan, the Liberian man who died there last week, has been diagnosed with Ebola. Including Duncan, it is the third case to be diagnosed in the United States. Four other health care workers are being monitored, the CDC added during a midday press conference call.

Earlier Wednesday, Obama discussed the spreading Ebola outbreak with British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

On the call, Obama “made clear that the world must marshal the finances as well as the international personnel required to bend the curve of the epidemic, noting that it constitutes a human tragedy as well as a threat to international security,” the White House said in a readout.