Opinion

How Politics Ruined The Office Of The Surgeon General

Richard Carmona Former Surgeon General
Font Size:

On Dec 15 the U.S. Senate took action largely along party lines to confirm Dr. Vivek Murthy as the next U.S. Surgeon General. This nomination has languished for a year due to insufficient Senate support for Dr. Murthy.

But, as the lame duck session entered its 11th hour, Senator Reid again invoked the nuclear option to clear the way for Dr. Murthy’s confirmation.

Dr. Murthy barely received enough votes to be confirmed – culling together the support of just 51 Senators primarily along party lines. This is indeed unfortunate since the doctor of the nation needs bipartisan support to be successful. For disease and the public’s health knows no party affiliation.

Dr Murthy is a gifted young physician very early in his career. He has some early significant accomplishments behind him but no formal public health training and little management or senior leadership experience. His nomination became controversial due to his inexperience and his political advocacy and perceived bias and on several issues.

That being said it is important to recognize that the problem is in the politicization of the Surgeon General nomination process and Dr. Murthy’s  nomination and confirmation simply reflect that dysfunction.

The Surgeon General is the leader of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The position carries with it the rank of Vice Admiral. This is a three star rank equivalent to the Surgeons General of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The difference is that the Army, Navy and Air Force Surgeons General earn their rank and title after decades of selfless service, as did the U.S. Surgeon General before politicians began to circumvent the uniformed service merit system for their own benefit.

This blatant act of political self-interest does not benefit the public but does undermine the credibility of the office of the Surgeon General and serves to demoralize and demean the career uniformed service of our men and women who are now marginalized and prevented form meritoriously being considered for Surgeon General as they once were.

Partisan politicians acting in self-interest is nothing new. However, we should recognize that by politically conferring the rank of vice admiral and the title of Surgeon General on any person who has not earned that right you are actually disadvantaging that person from the start. In the beltway where the Surgeon General resides and works his peers are real admirals, generals and senior health professionals who have earned their respective positions.

Politicians have many opportunities such as ambassadorships and appointed partisan positions to reward political support and advocacy. The office of the Surgeon General should never be a pawn for political patronage. The public expects and deserves the most qualified public health professional who merits consideration.

Ironically, if not but for a late political strategic blunder by a Republican senator, Dr. Murthy’s name may never have been advanced for confirmation.

Putting the plague of politics aside we now must turn to the more important issue of  protecting the health, safety and security of the nation. Dr. Murthy is fortunate in that he will be surrounded by members of the USPHCC. True professionals who, after many years of public health leadership and management experience, can provide him with historical perspective and public health guidance moving forward.

Dr. Murthy would be wise to follow their lead.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel