Remember when swine flu was going to wipe out America?
I remember being detained in Tokyo and again in Shanghai during that episode. All flights originating from the US or Mexico were treated with caution. One a flight I took, and all passengers were subjected to interviews and infrared body scans by folks dressed to avoid all human contact. We sat on the plane for almost two hours at Narita airport before they let us off. Later, in China, I was required to wear a mask if I went outside my rooms for the first four days of my visit. It was a condition of my remaining in the country. I felt silly with the thing on.
The authorities in the densely populated countries in the world were swift and decisive, but I don't ever remember the US authorities over-reacting. I don't think we're over-reacting to Ebola either.
To the OP, such articles are always fashionable.
This is one. It's silly. Reagan is Reagan, and Obama is Obama. Also, HIV and Ebola are different beasts. The comparison isn't necessary, but it's the sort of thing we expect. Remember when Saddam was the next Hitler? Remember the polls on this very forum asking whether he'd be remembered so infamously? Ten years on we still don't have a Godwin's Rule for the Baath party, do we? Of course we don't. People are always looking for historical parallels because it feeds the sensationalism.