Despite his best efforts to deflect blame from the president for his mishandling of the Ebola outbreak, former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted on CNN's "New Day" Thursday that there's “no question” that the Ebola, ISIS and Ukraine crises have put President Obama in a “bad light.”

Host Chris Cuomo invited CNN contributor Carney on to respond to the wilting coverage of Obama’s mishandling of the Ebola outbreak, asking “is the administration off balance here, should’ve been in front, now behind?”

Carney attempted to defend the president, saying that when crises out of an administration’s control converge like this, it often “appears” to be “under a lot of strain,” but then acknowledges that there’s “no question” Obama’s presidency is suffering due to his handling of Ebola:

Carney: ...you don’t get to choose the crisis you deal with as a president. I think in the end this is not a political issue. It’s an issue that has to be handled. That’s why the president has canceled travel. That’s why he’s focused—now that we have cases in the United States—on taking more direct action to protect the U.S., to make sure that this crisis is one that is principally overseas, not a U.S. crisis.

But there’s no question, in this environment, it all washes back on the White House, and that puts him in a bad light.

Cuomo pushed back against Carney's characterization of the crises as out of the administration's control, saying “but it’s not just happenstance,” and then pointed out that the American people are unclear about who in the administration is really making the important decisions.

After attempting to clarify the hierararchy of the administration's key decision makers, Carney eventually admitted that, in the end, it fell on Obama:

Carney: ...ultimately it’s the president because it’s his administration that’s charged with all aspects. … Ultimately, all of these things, again, crises you can’t control or arise not because of actions by the administration, have to be the president’s responsibility, which is why the White House is taking the steps it’s taking.

Cuomo, however, wouldn't accept Carney's "taking steps" assurance, saying essentially the administration was doing too little too late:

Cuomo: Well, but they’re taking them late, arguably. And perception is reality…

H/T WFB.