For the first time last night, President Obama acknowledged that it “may be appropriate” to appoint a national spokesperson to help manage the U.S. government’s effort -- and P.R. -- in handling the Ebola scare. "It may be appropriate for me to appoint an additional person, not because [the current team members] haven't been doing outstanding job,” Obama said in response to a question from NBC’s Kristen Welker. The president did not have any names to share who that person could be, saying, "If I appoint somebody, I will let you know." Here’s the reality: The administration needs someone in this position -- a modern-day C. Everett Koop -- simply because the president himself is too politically toxic (especially weeks before the midterm elections) and because the White House is managing so many other crises (ISIS, the global economy). Another reason the president seemed to be hinting about an Ebola czar: He’s been getting pressure from congressional Democrats, who see the Ebola panic starting to impact Democrats in key Senate races. And this early struggle by the White House to appear on top of the Ebola concern harkens back to another crisis: The BP oil spill when it tapped Thad Allen to be the government’s face of the response to constantly update reporters and the public. And if the White House should have learned anything from that experience, it was to not under-react (something they appeared to do at the time). Eventually, the White House got it right and successfully navigated through that crisis. That should be the model.