Paging Dr. Gupta

Dr. Gupta’s gonna sign on with these mobsters? Bet he DOESN’T.

Jake that’s good…but I wonder if you notice how much enthusiasm for the new administration has gone down since obama picked Warren…
Gupta would have been another great pick but unfortunately Obama shot himself in the foot with almost half of his supporters… giving what will be cover to his republican counterparts as soon as he is swarn in…to challenge everything he does.
It was the people who fought most for him…who are turned off now…that is going to hurt this administration. sad because suddenly lots of people who trusted him for 2 years …unfortunately no longer do.

Does Obama have any original thoughts or ideas for his administration? Why does he have to recycle Clinton’s?

Great humor Jake. I’m surprised Obama didn’t pick Dr. Oz. I mean Oprah is his homegirl and all.

I am very pleased to hear he picked Dr Gupta, I listen to him all the time and really like him, I hope whoever said his picking Rick Warren to do a prayer has lost Obama support must have blinders on,most of us feel his being able to work across all lines in a mature and understanding way is a great thing, there will always be Christians that need to have there opinions honored as well and this president promised he would be a president for everyone!

Hmmm… other than a flashy smile that reminds me of Erik Estrada, has Dr. Gupta have any REAL qualifications to be appointed Surgeon General? Dr. C. Everett Koop & Dr. Joyce Elders brought some legitimate credentials to the table.. Gupta??? This guy was born in 1969 – how much real experience can this guy have?

dl,
I hate to break it to you but most Americans including most Democrats don’t care about the Warren issue as much as you do.
Rick Warren’s books are best sellers because because Repubs and Democrats buy them. Heck, half of the black churches I’ve been to use them as bible study tools.

Well, it looks like CNN’s “unbiased” coverage of the Obama campaign is paying off for at least one member of their staff. Sorry, ABC. You tried hard, but in the end, you just didn’t swoon convincingly enough. Better luck with the next candidate.

I hear Dr. George Tiller is available.

Ahhhh the good ole pay back to a net work. Wonder if Larry King will get Ambassador to some where and Oprah Ambassador to oprah?

You are right on that one jd, the black church that I attended recommended the book. I wondered about the Warren choice too. Perhaps he’s trying to prove that there are preachers with all types of issues, not just Rev. Wright. I have no regrets in my choice, just wish I could’ve chosen him sooner. Whine on!

Dr. Sanjay Gupta will drop out just like Richardson once he gets properly ‘vetted’ (i.e. stripped of all privacy) first by the Obama team and then by the harsh spotlight of the media.
It is one thing to be a celebrity doctor and quite another to be the SG of the USA.
Sanjay Gupta’s entire life will filleted and displayed as if he were propped up in Macys’ window for all the world to see.
That is one story I would love to read CNN. Bias? Good heavens no.

Is this about Dr. Gupta or Rick Warren….
BOTH ARE EXCELLENT CHOICES BY OBAMA……

LOL some of you are really good at this! Regardless of what the Obama team does you are able to tie it to something! LOL and then you sit at your lonely little computers and stare off into space and wonder why your life is so meaningless………LOL good luck with that attitude the rest of your life!

hey Ray, I think Dr Phil is a jerk and often rude but maybe there could be a place for his kind of approach.

I thought the surgeon general was supposed to have a background in public health or have experience managing health organizations and coordinating public emergency preparedness. The surgeon general sets the tone for the medical community to follow and serves as a spokesman and liason/counsel to the president ….

Let me get this straight, Sanjay… you’re willing to trade a very high-paying job where all you do is go on TV and talk about medicine every few days, for a stressful, always-on job with many more real responsibilities and no privacy? And do all that for less money!?
You’re a better patriot than I am because I would tell Mr. Obama- “thanks but no thanks!”

Gupta is phenomenal choice if he is as brave and outspoken as Elders and Koop. These former surgeon generals were not afraid to take on the holier than thou abstinence crowd who discourage the use of condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases or fight the nicotine drug cartel. The health of America can be greatly enhanced by a surgeon general effectively communicating and educating the public on healthy choices and able to help people understand the advances in science and how the benefit of such advances can be translated to saving lives and reducing dramatically the spiraling cost of health care and delivery. Obama should also allow Dr. Gupta to use his freedom of expression to take on the drug cartels, the tobacco lobies, the high percentage alcohol barons, the fried and the junk food industry the chemical pollutant industries and galvanize the country in the direction of better health. I hope Obama in his inaugural address tells the nation “Ask not what the country can do for you to stay healthy, ask what you yourselves will do to stay healthy” A lot of the health issues are due to the lifestyle and diet choices that one makes. Unfortunately, there are some conditions due to bad genes or misfortune that one is afflicted by severe incurable diseases but for most part a good health education from a surgeon general like Dr. Gupta can ward off considerable extent of the diseases that are easily preventable with the available means and resources to do that.

The choice of Dr. Gupta points to Obama’s intent to communicate important health concepts to a country with an epidemic of obesity. The goal is to make us a stronger nation. Why would anyone complain about this? Strident whining conservatism is so tired.

Dr. Gupta is a highly trained neurosurgeon (out of Ann Arbor, an excellent school), who has published serious work in peer-reviewed medical journals. He even performed surgery in Iraq while embedded with the military there.
The fact that he has worked as a media physician may be a plus: he is accustomed to addressing medical issues of interest to the public, to doing it in ways laymen can grasp, and he is comfortable in the public eye. In this day and age, such a physician may play better than an old-school public health type. It doesn’t hurt that he’s an Indian Hindu, member of a minority, one that just happens to have produced many fine physicians, quite a few of whom practice in the U.S. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I personally think Dr.Gupta is a great choice. He is very… very smart!

As an Obama voter, I am disappointed with the celebrity pick.
Tssk tssk Obama!
Maybe a homophobe will be picked for the Inaguraul prayer……Oh wait.

Guess what folks..??? Gupta was an ADVISOR to Hillary Clinton from 1997-1998
Another one from the CLINTON ADMISTRATION.
lol

HEY DR GUPTA, what are you waiting for,the offer wont be there for ever please hurry up and say yes,

Everybody knows who he is. His main job is to set an example and to qwell the spread of infectious disease and to relate to the common man in doing so. It’s a damn good pic and in future, Gupta will have the pulpit to make a difference and set an example in India and the third world. He can be a transformational figure in the world like Obama.

hey Dave,there is not a chance Obama could have an intellect below Bush, his IQ is 93 and his good sense done gone out a window! if Obama did choose Judge Judy, Capt Stubbing or any other character you could name they would be an improvement over bush or any of the people he has chose. Thank Goodness the Clinton people are available because we and He, the next prez, sure do need the help that these folks have the experience to offer when Obama needs council. have you listened to Judge Judy, she ain’t no fool and has alot of common sense, not a bad idea. Are you in a sad state becuase your candidate lost, poor baby:-(

Hey David – apparently you did not get the memo about the change to Republican Party playbook. The “Promote Divisiveness” section was removed because it failed miserably in the recent Presidential election.

Some info on what the SG will do:
1. “(At a)…two-hour Chicago meeting in November with Obama, who said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice, the sources said. Gupta later spoke with Tom Daschle, Obama’s White House health czar and nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, and other advisers to the president-elect. The Michigan-born son of Indian and Pakistani parents, Gupta has always been drawn to health policy. He was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. His appointment would give the administration a prominent official of Southwest Asian descent and a skilled television spokesma”.
2. “Jacob Goldstein of the Wall Street Journal offers:
There’s a certain logic to picking a TV talking head to be surgeon general, because the surgeon general is largely a talking head. The top doc does oversee the 6,000-member Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, but the real work of the job is traveling around the country, using the job as a bully pulpit to advance a public health agenda.
In this media-saturated era, who could do that better than a doc who’s famous for explaining health issues on cable TV?”
Hey folks….
All of this info took less than 60 seconds to look up.

I would not trust Obama to appoint a hall monitor. I believe it is becoming more apparent every day what a fool this man is.

Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General?? hahahahhah. What’s next??? Barnie as Secretary of Education?? “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family!” Barack Obama and this entire thing are both a gigantic joke!

Some other cabinet selections that are in the works:
Magnum PI – FBI Director
Capt. Kirk – Secretary of Defense
Barnie – Secretary of Education
Queer Eye for the Straight guy cast – Secretary of Interior
Jack Bauer – Dept of Homeland Security
Leon Panetta – CIA…..oh wait…oops
Matlock – Attorney General
Daddy Warbucks – Secretary of Treasury
Jed Clampett, and Jethro too! – Dept of Energy
Spongebob Squarepants – Global Warming expert
Old macdonald – Dept of Agriculture

I do not like Obama, But Dr. Gupta is well recognized Neuro Surgeon.
Only Question is why he is giving up multi million dollar job(s) unless he is interested in future political office.

Dr Gupta is a great choice for Surgeon General, and shows Obama’s penchant for both pragmatism and original thinking, as the situation may warrant. I take the exponential and strident increase in flame comments by the anti-Obama set actually as anxiety-driven. More worry that the picks have been going this well and this quickly than anything else. Saying “ha ha another Clintonite” is high praise of the process, or maybe not, after all, since we must bear in mind that during the Clinton years the economy was in total and utter shambles, billions had to be doled out to billionnaire Wall Street beggars, the very manufacturing base of this great country was threatened; hundreds of soldiers lives were lost before the “surge”, which had been recommended years before. Are there any more Clinton missteps? Monica Lewinsky you say? Right!!!

Great choice!!!!

Dear “Common Sense”
Gupta was born in Michigan. Making him an “American of American descent.”
(whatever that means… the only people with true “American Descent” are the Native Americans. But he is a natural born citizen of this country.)

charles173,
That was what I wondered, too. Guess we’ll all know soon. Based on what I’ve read thus far, Gupta will side with whichever ‘think-tank’ that provides the best salary.

I am a health professional and often don’t agree with Dr. Gupta’s opinions.
I have served in the Public Health Service. I can’t believe someone who has dedicated their lives to this field wasn’t chosen. Just a popular face.
I’m disappointed.

Extremely disappointing choice. No experience in administration nor public health. TV does not make an MD an expert in issues affecting the health of the nation. Maybe a practicing MD (Neurosurgery) but that does not make it an expert in National Health Affairs

I don’t have much confidence in some of Obama’s appointments but Gupta is extremely brilliant and likeable. He also has superior communicative skills and probably will be much more mature than eg. Koop who tried to turn smokers into the “hated race” while he woofed down all the calories pretending to be sooooo perfect. Gupta is above all that. Quite a loss for Emory though.

I was going to say Canadian Health care might be free, but it isn’t worth anything but this would be a lie. I know several people in Canada—and they all pay for their health care both in taxes and then when they actually see a doctor. I say WHEN because it is hard to even see a doctor, and many die in the long long long waits to see a doctor…………and atlast, many Canadians come to the states to get decent health care which often not available in the supposedly free healthcare system. If you want free substandard care…join the military. We get this supposed free health care that we actually have to pay for too….and it sucks and is very dangerous at times as our MANAGED CARE manages to avoid giving good medical care.

My goodness, “Common Sense.” You certainly got shorted when it comes to “common decency” and “common knowledge” about both physicians and medical culture. Your haste in declaring your skepticism about Indians as ready to profit-scam Americans or lower the standards of American medicine is not in keeping with my experience of exceptional Indian-American medical professionals, either socially or professionally. Some of the best physicians I have had the honor of knowing, being cared for by, and working with have been Indian-Americans. I invite you to come to Texas at your earliest convenience and watch Indian-American physicians interact with patients. Even your mind would be changed by their tenderness, courtesy, compassion and humor. I’ll help you overcome any stereotypes you may be carrying about Chinese-American or South-African-American, Latino-American, or Pakistani-American physicians, too. The Dallas area is a veritable medical melting pot.
You may think whatever stereotypical profit-motivated thoughts you want about physicians. The people who are first to do that are inevitably the ones who’ve had the least exposure to medical professionals and the least acquaintance with just how tight the profit margins, assuming they exist at all, have come to be in insurance-dictated modern American medicine. The physicians I know, love, am descended from, and am cared for by are not adding to their boat funds. Not a one of them even owns a boat. They’re working 14- to 16-hour days to care for the ever-dwindling number of increasingly sicker patients whose health insurance and financial circumstances allow them to access health care at all and more often than not losing money as they do so. Criticize physicians all you want, but you darn well better have your facts straight before you do. Right now, you’re so far off base, you’re on another planet of medical reality. (And as the physician I love best just pointed out, that planet looks an awful lot like Uranus.)

wel atleast he isnt some odl out of touch religous right kook that believes in fantasy.

Kellybelle22,
“They’re working 14- to 16-hour days to care for the ever-dwindling number of increasingly sicker patients whose health insurance and financial circumstances allow them to access health care at all and more often than not losing money as they do so.”
Based on my experience of Indian scams, they work 2-4 hours daily and BILL 14-16 hours. Your mileage may vary if you’re in charge of ‘watching’ them, contracting with them, paying them or accounting for their absurd time and billing systems. The billable ‘facts’ presented to our Government are so far from ‘factual’ that it ain’t funny. If we paid for actual hours worked, the healthcare affordability crisis would be solved within 1 month.

I agree with Dave and Belle Starr – CNN’s biased adulation of President elect Obama is paying off handsomely. Recall the other individuals who provided their early allegance to Obama’s run for the presidency – Caroline Kennedy (have her run and get ELECTED for the seat then!) and Oprah Winfrey (she’s buying a home in DC….could an ambassadorship be next for her?). Back on topic, I don’t believe Dr. Gupta will be the only one rewarded from CNN. Candy must get something for her gushing reports on Obama. Ah, yes – a far cry from when CNN offered live feed of Obama in Nevada during a rally prior to their primary there; after 5 minutes of Obama recalling how he’s embarrased to be related to Cheney and other irrevelant details, CNN cut the broadcast SHORT. With all of the TV time Obama’s had (the most ever for a President-elect), he should be ready. And let Biden loose- he should not have to be ‘muzzled’ (as the press calls it). Thanks for the opportunity to post.

Gupta is an excellent surgeon and superb communicator. Exactly who you want for the role. CNN hired him for a reason. He’ll do fine with more responsibility in government (and less pay) because he has integrity and intelligence.
The writers bashing him for being of Indian descent are broken. They haven’t a clue about what being American really means.

Here’s another article from ABC News. This one is in the Business section: “Hyundai: Can’t Make Your Car Payment? Just Give it Back. Hyundai Offers Deal to Let Consumers Return Cars if They Lose Their Jobs”

The Surgeon General really doesnt do anything except advocate for nanny state influence over people’s health issues.
Given the proliferation of medical information available to the general public, either through legitimate sites or health segments on CNN, the position of SG is a bit redundant.
So I’d say there is no reason why Dr. Gupta shouldnt fill this post.

/——
Common Sense, you’re an angry, paranoiac uber-nationalist who’s venting to the wrong person here. I’m far more familiar with Indian professionals in both global technology and medicine than you are, I suspect, and the only person you have yet convinced me I’ve been scammed by is you yourself.
——/
Admittedly, I get angry when Americans are scammed because they assign character, skill, intelligence, aptitude and motive based on race. Bad selection criteria. I guess you haven’t seen the latest Reuters report which I’ll quote for you here:
Satyam Computer Services Limited Chairman Resigns After Inflating Profit, Revenue Figures-WSJ
1/7/2009 10:36am EST
The Wall Street Journal reported that Satyam Computer Services Limited Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju resigned admitting to falsifying company accounts and inflating revenue and profit figures over several years, sending the Company’s shares plunging. In a letter to the Company’s Board, which was released to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Raju said that Satyam had inflated its operating profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 to 6.49 billion rupees ($136 million) from 610 million rupees reported previously, while revenue was inflated to 27 billion rupees from 21.12 billion rupees. It had reported an operating margin of 24% which was actually 3%. Raju also said Satyam’s balance sheet as of Sept. 30 had a non-existent cash balance of 50.4 billion rupees; nonexistent accrued interest of 3.76 billion rupees; an understated liability of 12.3 billion rupees; and an overstated debtor position of 4.9 billion rupees compared with 26.51 billion rupees reflected in its books. This has resulted in artificial cash and bank balances going up by 5.88 billion rupees in the second quarter alone. Mr. Raju said that none of its Board members or senior executives had knowledge of the Company’s falsified financial results. Managing Director B. Rama Raju also resigned his post.