Because of his service as Ebola Czar, @RonaldKlain kind of became a Pandemic Guy even before Covid and then when Covid hit he was THE pandemic guy.

But the most important part of the story is that when he got the Ebola ob, the knock on him was that he wasn’t qualified.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 12, 2020

He’s not a doctor, he’s not a research scientist, he wasn’t an expert in the politics of West Africa, he was just like this veteran political guy who was highly respected by people who knew him.

But it turned out to be a great pick — politics is a distinct sphere of endeavor.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 12, 2020

The question of what to do is inherently more complicated than “listen to the scientists.”

You have to listen to them, of course, but they don’t all agree and there’s a balance of considerations and a whole of government to coordinate.

He did great.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 12, 2020

It bodes well for his time as Chief of Staff but it’s also the most optimistic possible view of a coming Biden administration — Joe Biden is an honest to God career politician in an era when that’s a dirty word.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 12, 2020

But to make the best of what’s left of our ability to mitigate the virus, to distribute vaccines, to coax more relief out of congress, and to find ways to make progress on climate is going to take a lot of politics — there’s no magic trick or technical sleight of hand.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 12, 2020

Biden was not my first choice (or second or third or fourth) in the primary but he made the right calls during the campaign and in what’s going to be a very closely divided congress what it’s going to take is politics more than vision — I’m cautiously hopeful.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 12, 2020