On Oct. 24, President Obama hugged Nina Pham, the first person to be infected with Ebola in the United States. Ms. Pham, a nurse who had been declared disease free by the National Institutes of Health, did not represent a contagion risk to the President, or anybody else, but the hug was symbolic. While we do have things to fear other than fear itself, the hug was an important symbol. It was intended to be. The Washington Times (not ever to be confused with the Washington Post) was outraged, and under the headline “Obama Choreographed Hug with Ebola Victim.” Mark Knoller, the White House correspondent for CBS News Tweeted “Still photographers said they heard Pres Obama tell Nurse Nina Pham words to the effect of: let’s give a hug for the cameras.”The picture itself seems to deliver the message. Ms. Pham has a huge grin, President Obama has a look of total indifference – which is perfectly okay. If he appeared to be enjoying the hug the Washington Times and NewsMax would have had something to say about that too. Ebola is scary, but we’ve been through something like this before. Laura Helmuth of Slate made the important point that while President Obama welcomed Ms. Pham and did hug her, President Reagan never even said the word AIDS – at least not in the disease context.Read More.Source: The Populist/Sam Uretsky