Sanjay Gupta: i’m too sexy for this job, too sexy for this job, too sexy by far
So, it’s almost official. There was a leak in the Washington Post as well as rumors swirling around the blogosphere all day. Reuters, however, is reporting as of 4 hours ago that Obama has indeed offered the post of Surgeon General to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who has in return expressed his interest to accept the position.
The choice of Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General is far from an obvious or conventional one. Seriously, check out the photo to the left; anyone ever remember C. Everett Koop posing for a glamour shot (à la Arthur Fonzerelli)? I didn’t think so.
Gupta’s lack of political and public health experience are causing some to wonder whether he is even qualified to be Surgeon General. Surely, the youth and “coolness” factor played a role in his being chosen, but there is something slightly unsettling about that as well.
He’s had ties to big pharm (specifically Merck) while pushing vaccines (specifically Gardasil HPV) on the air. Does he have other possible conflicts of interest or skeletons in his closet?
Also, from naturalnews.com:
“In April, 2008, NaturalNews readers participated in a survey rating various traits of popular health journalists. Here’s how Dr. Sajay Gupta rated:
29% Humble / 71% Not
31% Generous / 69% Not
67% Healthy / 33% Not
37% Authentic / 63% Not
77% Intelligent / 23% Not
32% Honest / 68% Not
23% Informed / 77% Not
In other words, NaturalNews readers see Dr. Gupta as being intelligent and healthy, but dishonest, misinformed, fake and arrogant.”
I thought the survey results were quite interesting. That coupled with Gupta’s lack of significant public health experience makes me wonder how the public (and the Senate confirmation committee) will respond to the nomination.
