SG: Sanjay Gupta is out. John Kitzhaber for Surgeon General!
Kari Chisholm
Well, it seems that Dr. Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn his name from consideration as Surgeon General.
Speaking on "Larry King Live" hours after news of his decision broke, Gupta said he did not want to stop performing brain surgery, leave his television career or spend extended time away from his family.
As I've said before many times, the job of surgeon general is to talk to the American people about the greatest threats to their health. In the past, that's been about tobacco prevention, encouraging condom use, childhood obesity, etc.
Today, the biggest threat to the health of Americans is our health care system. With millions uninsured, millions more underinsured, and almost all of us at risk of losing our health care due to economic conditions - the time is now for reforming our health system.
And there's no doctor that's more eloquent on the topic than Dr. John Kitzhaber. As he puts it, it's not about "health care" or "health insurance", but rather, it's about "health". Reforming our health care system to provide universal health coverage is ultimately all about improving the health of all Americans.
As Dr. Gupta put it:
He said the surgeon general "has to have a little bit of a higher profile. Whoever takes this job has to be out there really advocating the issues of public health. At no time is it probably more important than right now, as we're dealing with health-care reform. These issues really go hand in hand."
And that's why Dr. John Kitzhaber should be the next Surgeon General of the United States. He's the perfect guy to travel the country and help make the case -- from a public health perspective -- for universal health care.
I know that Kitzhaber has said, repeatedly, that he doesn't want to move to Washington DC. But he wouldn't have to move to DC to be Surgeon General. Wherever he'd be, he'd have to travel around the country - as much as two weeks a month. And he can do that based anywhere, including right here in his beloved Oregon.
John Kitzhaber for Surgeon General!
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Mar 6, '09
I really don't understand the Kitzhaber idolatry. Was life in Oregon really so great when he was governor? And if it was, think back real hard and ask whether he was responsible for that.
Besides, he's kind of a jerk.
5:22 p.m.
Mar 6, '09
He was an effective Governor who held the line against the frothing at the mouth radical-right which had taken over Salem. His battles against Sizemore alone earns him a lot of goodwill from many Oregonians.
5:28 p.m.
Mar 6, '09
read the mission for the Archimedes Project & understand what Kitz is about: not merely health care but changing how we do govt & politics to involve more Oregonians, to get past the old ways of not getting anything meaningful done.
sound familiar?
Mar 6, '09
CNN is reporting that Howard Dean is Obama's new choice for Surgeon General.
Mar 6, '09
dear sigh,
if we're talking about him as a gov then i'm pretty happy with what kitzhaber was able to accomplish with a republican majority the entire time. i feel better about that than i do about special k and how he's done with a dem majority
if we're talking about him as sg then i am pretty happy with what he's done with health care and more importantly what he's trying to currently do with the archimedes movement
~~~
t.a. - loved what you said but it's a "movement" and not a "project"
Mar 6, '09
I'm for Dean for AG and Kitzhaber running for Gov.
I knew Dr. John when he was a state senator. He had matured by the time he was St. Sen. President (just as Westlund matured from his early days as a legislator).
Not everyone in either party liked him. He didn't see being St. Sen. President as a reason to join party orthodoxy just because unelected activists in the party said so. (Such battles also happened when Republicans controlled the legislature and the state party didn't like the votes of some legislators.)
As Gov. he did a great job of standing up to right wing legislators. My favorite story was when the St. Sen. was 20-10 Republican and the Sen. leadership said "The Gov. never communicated with us on this bill". So Kitzhaber released the letter he had sent to the Senate leadership regarding the bill. Something along the lines of "We can work together on this bill but I will tell you right now I will discuss A and B, but if X and Y are in the bill I will have to veto". Turned out the Sen. leadership were unhappy with what he had said--since he hadn't said what they wanted him to say, he hadn't "communicated".
How often has the current Gov. done anything that strong?
Mar 6, '09
Dean's the better choice, paticularly the way he was snubbed for HHS and the President killed the chance for a Senate pickup in KS to do it. Plus, he wants the job.
12:32 a.m.
Mar 7, '09
Howard Dean is an excellent choice, too. Not saying he isn't.
12:49 a.m.
Mar 7, '09
I'd definitely like to see Dean in that position. As a former presidential candidate and DNC Chair, he's already made a lot of contacts all over the country. He also can funnel information to the organization he founded and his brother now runs - Democracy for America.
Dean already had a very sensible health care plan that can be updated and then talked about all over the country. It was a plan that should have businesses loving him, especially in today's climate, as they could pay their employees' entire share and still pay less than they do now for a portion of it.
Mar 7, '09
What has Kitzhaber ever done to show leadership or special skills on public health issues? Did he do anything to reduce public health threats in Oregon like smoking, obesity, product safety?
And in his advocacy for health care system change he thinks Medicare has failed, when in fact it is efficient and remarkably successful in providing health care to our nation's elderly.
Like Sigh, I just don't get it.
Mar 7, '09
Forget SG; John Kitzhaber for Governor!
11:15 a.m.
Mar 7, '09
Ah, he was the architect of the Oregon Health Plan for one.
On that we agree, you two don't get it.
Mar 7, '09
Posted by: lestatdelc | Mar 7, 2009 11:15:37 AM
I would agree, for entirely the opposite reason. The difference between Kitzhaber and Dean is their facility with dealing with the current crappy Washington scene. Kitzhaber seems to abhor that crap, which is why many want him to reform health care, but one has to ask how much you have to get along to move it along. Dean's vision is equally good, but he seems to like those games. At the end of the day, even though I agree 100% with Kari, that's why I would have to pick Dean. Call it avoiding the "Carter Effect"- picking the best qualified person, but not a person that can work within the system to change it.
I used to travel so much I had blank pages regularly added to my passport. In July, 2001, I said, "no more", and have stayed put. If you were to run the logic by me about the two weeks and all, I would not be tempted. That sounds like hell, if you're not into it. I only mention the date to flaunt my spectacularly good timing, for once..and the only.
It certainly is good news that Gupta is out, though. I was never happy with that one.
On that we agree, you two don't get it.
I missed the memo. When did these discussions get right and wrong answers? Do we get to see the answer key?
1:57 p.m.
Mar 7, '09
"The difference between Kitzhaber and Dean is their facility with dealing with the current crappy Washington scene. Kitzhaber seems to abhor that crap, which is why many want him to reform health care, but one has to ask how much you have to get along to move it along. Dean's vision is equally good, but he seems to like those games"
That was my rationale as well.
Mar 7, '09
What is Kitzhaber's position on single payer?
In this fiscal crisis, I think that this question has to be the deal breaker for support from the democratic left for any candidate for this position . . . and it's a great reason why Gupta would have been such a terrible choice.
(And yes, I know Obama's lamentable present position on this. We have to move him.)
We are so far past the point where single payer is the obvious answer that it is screamingly, laughably, bitterly clear to all but the intractable right. We are now down literally to Sen. Grassley of Iowa publicly humiliating himself by stating that there should be no public OPTION for Americans because clearly too many people would prefer it.
Roll that logic about the skull a few times real slow.
I know that the Democratic Party is beholden to the same pharmaceutical companies and medical behemoths that have thwarted this before. I know this won't get done without a massive public uprising.
That's why this Surgeon General position would be an ideal occasion to start a great big prairie fire around Medicare for everyone.
We can blame it on the economy . . . after giving all that TARP money away to banks and auto companies, we can't afford to subsidize the greed to the medical industry as well. It's regrettable, but given the circumstances we have to do the only responsible thing, which is the plan that does the greatest good for the greatest number by removing the profit motive and recognizing the fact that health care is a human right. Kicking and screaming, we have to take the obvious economically and ethically and politically correct step.
Single payer. Accept no substitutes.
Mar 7, '09
Jack, you should submit your manifesto as an article. Seriously. It's a totally different response than as a response.
Mar 9, '09
John Kitzhaber would be a fine Surgeon General. Unfortunately, President Obama does not seem to support the healthcare policy developed by the Archimedes Movement, which Kitz organized and guided. If the appointment signaled Obama's embrace of the Archimedes approach, it would be a great day for this nation.
Mar 9, '09
Joe Hill said, "We are now down literally to Sen. Grassley of Iowa publicly humiliating himself by stating that there should be no public OPTION for Americans because clearly too many people would prefer it."
That's pretty much been the bipartisan position, even if it's been unspoken by our non-representatives. (Grassley at least is honest.)
It was only after repeated and insistent lobbying by single-payer supporters that Obama even allowed "far-left" advocates like John Conyers to sit at the health care table.
If you're a politician who's running for office, it's understandable that you might want to whore yourself to corporate interests, but if you're a political activist, it's impolitic to give up what you really want before negotiations have even started.
My choices for SG: Woolhandler, Himmelstein, McCanne, Young.
Mar 11, '09
Why John Kitzhaber is unlikely to be Obama's Surgeon General, that is, if that office is going to take a lead role on healthcare reform.