Sanjay Gupta Out Of Running For Surgeon General

UPDATE: Sanjay Gupta has removed himself from the running for Surgeon General. CNN reports:

CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn his name from consideration as the nation's next surgeon general, opting to continue to devote time to his reporting and his medical career.

Gupta will discuss his decision, and the president's health care agenda, tonight on CNN's Larry King Live.

Fox News reported earlier Thursday that Gupta might be out.

Jerry Farrell, who heads the Commissioned Officers Association, told FOXNews.com Thursday that CNN's chief medical correspondent is known to have taken himself out of consideration.

"The general consensus from everybody is Gupta is no longer in contention ... it's more he's withdrawing himself," Farrell said, citing conversations he's had with "well-placed" individuals.

According to Farrell, Gupta had misgivings about both the pay cut he would have to take and the fact that he could be reporting to two high-level bosses: both the health secretary and health reform office director. When Gupta's name surfaced, President Obama had planned to have former Sen. Tom Daschle fill both of those roles. After Daschle withdrew from consideration, the president named two separate nominees for the posts.

Comments

[irisda]

I don't understand. When you're nominated, it means the administration has reached out to you, and asked if you'd like the position. You think about it, and eventually you say yes or no. So I presumed he had accepted the position! Why backtracking now, after several weeks during which most people thought you've made up your mind?

[huffyjive]

another BO choice distancing himself from this administration as fast as he can...smart career move.

[allwrite]

Another way of looking at it would be that in a time of great economic peril, individuals who have been asked to serve their nation have elected to put personal interests before country. Tell me why I should admire these people.

[cheersdk]

Dr. Gupta is an awesome TV medical professional and journalist, extremely knowledgeable, but, what's even more impressive are his presentation skills and how he passionately explains an issue to the viewership. One one side, he would have made an excellent S.G., especially someone that would have drawn great publicity and a known voice for health care, but, he can still do that on national cable TV. He has a good thing going at CNN as a TV medical broadcaster, the SG job would have primarily involved being an administrator of a large federal bureaucracy, different skill set.

Like some here I'm not going to speculate about any vetting issues related to impropriety, but, rather more curious about his political beliefs. Is he equally passionate about the administration's correct left leaning vision for govt. mandated universal health care, etc. like he is for the medical field itself? While he works for CNN, he may be right leaning in his financial views.

Howard Dean was deserving of first consideration for this slot for several reasons: a. successful tenure as DNC chairman, b. experience as long serving former state governor, c. ran for National office so aware of national health issues from a political perspective, d. and most importantly a doctor himself who is a no-nonsense individual.

[worriedinvt]

Howard Dean also has a solid record as governor on healthcare reform, having brought us the "Dr. Dinosaur" program that provides health-care coverage for Vermont children in need.

[allwrite]

Michael Moore described him as a big GOP contributor.

[pickwickianmom]

Since he didn't want me to have health care, it's fine with me that he goes back to what he was doing.

[LenP]

I never liked this guy

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

...for republicans the term "PUBLIC SERVICE" is nothing but a joke.

[flatus]

Thank you for your fine service to this nation, Sanjay. May your chosen path be filled with dollars.

[klandish]

Remember how he misrepresented the whole insurance issue when the Michael Moore film came out. That was a bad start to a career in Obama's administration. I hope.

[spotubu]

I saw the cnn interview at a distance and as a trained body language interviewer I was taken with the amount of deception he showed so I went to hear what he said. What he said and his body said were
180 opposite. fwiw

[SlappHappy]

Goopta is a phony.

[brooklyncitizen]

Howard Dean?

[NotMcCain]

Please!

(Too bad Emmanuel will never let it happen).

[SlappHappy]

Yep, the Rahmmeister will block Dean, which is a shame.

[Bubbas]

Either way he stood to make money. He did two interviews yesterday and he said that it wasn't about money but rather the job was going to prove really difficult and take him away from his family (wife, two kids, and one that was going into labor yesterday!) as well as render his surgical skills useless after four years (medical advances happen continually - if you're not working for 4 years then you will fall drastically behind the learning curve.)

In the interviews, he seemed like a very intelligent, sincere, and very nice guy. It is actually a real shame to all of us that we lost this person. After seeing those interviews, I couldn't think of a better candidate. At least he's real with himself and real with his family.

[SlappHappy]

How "real" is he with the big pharmas for whom he functions as a shill/pitchman?

[klandish]

Ah ha, of course that's the real reason. But like a good politician he had to concoct the right spin. More than glad that didn't work; would have cost Obama more precious time defending the shill.

[BassMonk]

And he has real conflict-of-interest issues at his current job.

[Graywolf48]

Yes, another patriot, personal greed/gain above the good of the nation. Good riddance. I always thought he was a big pharma shill any way. Anything for a buck, right doctor?

[sheikwil4]

Bottom line, it's all about the money because before they reported yesterday he was taking his name out of the running, it was already reported the day before that he didn't want to take the cut in pay. Hey I don't blame him, it's his choice, but don't lie about your choice. It's the cut in pay bottom line.

[unfettered]

Toldya' so

[alwaysthere]

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

[flyteeskee]

i would agree if the economy wasn't so bad. we've got to reprioritize and sounds like he has.

[SlappHappy]

You really think Goopta is so broke that he couldn't afford to do this job? Ridiculous.

[ESerafina42]

Way to go, Dr. Gupta. You listened to Obama's call to public service, and rejected it because the money wasn't good enough. In that case, maybe someone else WOULD better for the job.

[flyteeskee]

have you heard about the economy and where some of are with our 401ks, savings, esops, etc.? You gotta do what you gotta do. Im all for public service but the financial stakes are soooooooo high right now. maybe he just couldn't afford to.

[SlappHappy]

Come on now. Goopta is already loaded. He can't take the job because it would piss off his big pharma buddies, and he is addic.ted to the perks. Under the new guidelines, he couldn't return to his "job" as a shill/pitchman right after leaving the administration, either. Goopta is all about Goopta and no-one else.