The political media think it's worth talking about, and mavens of the political sausage-making in Washington find both the process and the result fascinating . . . and conservatives are incensed about it. But seriously, why does anyone give two flying leaps of a crock of crap that Vivek Murthy has been confirmed as surgeon general?
Yeah, I know, he's an Obama stooge who led an organization that pimped for ObamaCare. I know he's a gun control crusader. I know that during confirmation hearings he assured members of Congress that he will use his newfound "bully pulpit" to focus on health and not gun control. Yeah yeah. All that. Got it.
But why does anyone care who holds this position?
It is not entirely ceremonial in nature. There is this thing called the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, which consists of several thousand doctors who can be dispatched by the surgeon general to respond to massive emergencies or, on a more limited basis, to more isolated situations. So he does have some responsibility and he can wield it in some circumstances that might actually matter.
But deciding when and how to deploy the Commissioned Core doesn't really have much to do with ideology, or even medical competence. It's really just a matter of becoming aware that there is a need and giving the order. You or I could probably do it.
The part of the surgeon general's job that most people pay attention to involves the vaunted "warnings" about the health risks of things like cigarettes (which anyone with a brain can figure out for themselves), or the supposed advocacy role that has seen past surgeon generals push everything from anti-abortion (C. Everett Koop) to masturbation (Joycelyn Elders).
The media seems to think that the nation hinges on every word this guy says, waiting with bated breath for his sage advice on health so we will know how to set the course of our lives. I don't think anyone knows or cares what this guy says.
I suppose there is a useful role for the Commissioned Corps, and someone has to command it, so I don't mind keeping the position. But is it really worth having political fights over who holds it? Murthy has no power to set policy, and his "advocacy" has no serious impact on what anyone thinks or does. The media likes to call him "the nation's doctor," which is a concept we have no need for whatsoever.
If a left-wing Obama stooge is going to get a job, this sounds like a pretty good one to let him have. It really doesn't matter that much. Let's stop having death matches over it as if it did.
