Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been approached by Barack Obama to be the next Surgeon General. Gupta, a surgeon and educator, is well known in his role as chief medical correspondent for CNN, and for his column in Time Magazine. But his most recent claim to fame was his debate with filmmaker Michael Moore on Larry King Live over what Gupta called "fudged facts" in Moore's hit movie Sicko.
Moore countered the accusation by saying that Gupta is biased in favor of drug companies, major sponsors of Gupta's reports on CNN. CNN did eventually apologize for a couple of Gupta's errors, but remained in support of him.
I suppose it makes some sense that Obama would tap a popular, media-savvy educator for the job since the Surgeon General serves as America's chief health educator, but I'm troubled by this choice, not only because of Gupta's relationship with the drug industry, but also because there's got to be a more highly-qualified physician somewhere in the country who isn't a member of the media, and who won't be bait-out-of-the-gate for all those anti-Obama folks that believe the media is the arm of the devil.
There's a chance that Barack "I'm Not the Anti-Christ!" Obama plans to defend the right's opposition to Gupta by reminding everyone that Gupta once saved Jesus from certain death. But I'm still convinced that asking Gupta to be the Surgeon General is like asking Ty Pennington to head the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Just because a man is highly recognized doesn't mean he'll be highly respected.
