Stoogeon General

If you know me, you know I'm a big Obama fan. So it pains me when he makes a decision that I'm not entirely happy with (like this one). When I heard that Obama was considering Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General, I developed a sharp pain that emanated from behind my right eye through my ear and up my forehead. The pain is not unlike the pain I feel every time I hear fingernails on a chalkboard, or Sarah Palin's voice.

I don't have any problem with Dr. Gupta's qualifications. In fact, I sort of agree with Howard Dean that the job of Surgeon General is not unlike what Dr. Gupta currently does for CNN: explaining medical issues of public concern in a manner that the public can understand. My problem with Dr. Gupta stems from his on-air accusations that Michael Moore had "fudged his facts" in his movie Sicko. (If you haven't seen Sicko yet, then I urge you to open up a new window in your browser right now and add it to the top of your Netflix queue. Go ahead, I'll wait.)

In reality, Michael Moore had been entirely accurate and CNN was wrong on each and every one of the supposedly fudged facts. To their credit, CNN admitted after the fact that Dr. Gupta had been wrong, but the damage had already been done. If we're ever going to fix our ailing health care system, then we need people in respected positions (like Dr. Gupta) to stand up with those, like Michael Moore, and speak the truth about our broken system. Instead, Dr. Gupta called Michael Moore a liar and gave the public one more reason to not take Moore, or his message, seriously.

Also, I'm not really sure that the chief public health official (you know, the one in charge of telling us all to stop smoking and to lose weight) should really be showing our kids how to eat fire. Am I wrong here?