Nearly 60 percent of Americans want the government to shut down flights to the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, sources of the Ebola virus. Why isn’t the White House playing ball? One theory: because once again, President Barack Obama is serving his legacy at the expense of the country.

Six years ago he put his legacy-building healthcare legislation ahead of the need to create jobs and reboot our fragile economy. Today, his ambition to be a hero to Africa is undermining common sense approaches to protecting Americans from the Ebola virus.

At issue is the enormous popularity of George W. Bush in Africa, a love affair that highlights how little, by comparison, Mr. Obama has done for that continent. As The New York Times reported in 2013, Bush “is seen as a lifesaver who as president helped arrest a deadly epidemic [AIDS] and promoted development of impoverished lands.” As The Times noted, “During a final trip as president in early 2008, Mr. Bush was warmly greeted by huge crowds of the sort he never saw at home anymore.”

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That’s a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, who makes little secret of his dislike for his predecessor and who, as our nation’s first black president, was expected to make great contributions to Africa. It must gall him that U.S. approval ratings in numerous important African countries have tumbled under his leadership.

According to Gallup, U.S. approval ratings in sub-Saharan Africa peaked at 85 percent in 2009; by 2013 they had plummeted to 64 percent. They explained the likely source of the drop: “Given Obama's Kenyan heritage, many Africans likely expected Obama to pay more attention to Africa than they perceive he has.” In Kenya, the birthplace of the president’s father, approval of the U.S. leadership collapsed from 93 percent in 2009 to 68 percent by 2013.

When both 43 and 44 happened to overlap in Tanzania two years ago, Mr. Obama had to answer critics “who complain he has not done enough to build on [Mr. Bush’s] efforts.” Where has the White House fallen short? Anne Kamau, a fellow from the Africa Growth Initiative, as posted on the Brookings website, said the Obama administration has failed to build better business ties with Africa. She writes, “Brazil, India, China and Turkey have recognized and taken advantage of these opportunities; comparatively, the U.S. has not.”

Further, she argues the Obama government could do more by “engaging in publicly visible and commercially oriented diplomacy on the continent.” She doesn’t understand that this administration does not think “business first.” Our non-oil imports from sub-Saharan Africa in 2013 amounted to just $13 billion compared to overall U.S. imports of $2.7 trillion. That says it all.

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The president, who opened his 2013 speech at the University of Cape Town by saying, “Some of you may be aware of this, but I actually took my first step into political life because of South Africa,” is desperate to rebuilding his standing. He is trying to do so in foolish and dangerous ways.

Sending 4,000 American troops to the epicenter of the viral outbreak, to help build medical facilities and generally contribute manpower to the stricken and chaotic nations, can only end in tragedy. This is not what our troops signed up for.

At the same time, President Obama is refusing to cancel flights to the United States from the most stricken nations. Other nations’ airlines starting banning flights to and from Liberia, Sierra Leon and Guinea in August. By the end of that month more than one third of international flights to the region had been cancelled. Countries in the area, including South Africa and Senegal, closed their borders with their neighbors to help stem the spread of the disease. Chad closed its border with Nigeria after that nation saw an outbreak of the deadly disease.

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