The breaking news last night was that Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN declined the Surgeon General position. His only relevance to the position was that he's been on TV and of course, he's a neurosurgeon. Yeah, being a neurosurgeon is cool, but lying about our health care crisis is not, and we don't need that, especially in these times. So like any CNN personality, he went to another CNN personality to explain himself:
Families are important, and if he isn't up to helping protect America's families, then we need someone who will. I heard that Howard Dean was back and he's made himself a full plate for the foreseeable future. Coming back to run DFA, consult and help wherever he can is great news. It just wouldn't be the best news, at least to me. Now that the Surgeon General position is open again, it is time for Rahm to put his bad feelings aside and get Dr. Dean into the Administration as Surgeon General. Dean is a passionate advocate of providing great health care, as Governor of Vermont for more than a decade, on his campaign for the Presidency in 2004 and for the last five years even while he ran the DNC."This is more about my family and my surgical career," Gupta told CNN's "Larry King Live."
The neurosurgeon said he would likely have had to give up practicing had he taken the job as the nation's top doctor.
In addition, the 39-year-old and his wife are expecting their third daughter any time, and the government job would have meant long periods away from his family, he said.
"I think, for me, it really came down to a sense of timing more than anything else," he said. "I just didn't feel I should do that now."
Mr. President, Dr. Dean is the man for the job.
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