Regina Benjamin

You've probably never heard of Regina Benjamin. Neither had I before Monday when she stood in the Rose Garden next to President Obama and accepted the nomination as Surgeon General. I love this pick. From all accounts she's an incredible doctor, a giving and caring person and actually has some experience with public health issues (as opposed to TV doctor Sanjay Gupta who had been rumored to be Obama's pick earlier this year).

Since Monday, the blogosphere has focused little on her accomplishments, choosing instead to debate the woman's weight...speculating about her BMI and writing her off as unfit (pun intended) for the position. I've struggled with how to articulate my disgust with this line of thought, until I ran across this piece by Frances Kissling at Salon. She's done a nice job of articulating things for me. This Jezebel piece also raises a good point about the inherent sexism behind this discussion.