 Barack goes for the wow factor (and a fellow Harvard man) for Surgeon General.
America's most famous television surgeon, Sanjay Gupta, is poised to take his black bag and microphone to the White House as President-elect Barack Obama's choice for U.S. surgeon general. A neurosurgeon who is also a correspondent for CNN and CBS, Gupta was chosen as much for his broadcasting skills as for his medical résumé, suggesting that the incoming administration values visible advisers who can drive a public message. He has also been offered a top post in the new White House Office of Health Reform, twin duties that could make him the most influential surgeon general in history. A practicing physician and one of People magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive," Gupta met for more than two hours with Obama in Chicago on Nov. 25, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks. Gupta, 39, later spoke with several Obama advisers, including Thomas A. Daschle, who will run the new White House policy office and the Department of Health and Human Services. The globetrotting doctor has told Obama aides he wants the job, which involves overseeing the 6,000-member Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. When reached yesterday, Gupta did not deny that he plans to accept the offer but declined to comment.
Picking Gupta, who by the way, used to write speeches for Hillary Clinton, means Obama plans to use his public persona to push through what must be, or perhaps hopefully will be, a massive reorganization of the nation's healthcare system. The one, two punch of picking Gupta and Daschle signals that the Obama people are serious about getting the policy through Congress (Daschle), and explaining it credibly to the American people (Gupta).
Labels: appointments, Obama administration, President Barack Obama, Sanjay Gupta, Surgeon General |
