President-elect Obama wants Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN and CBS News to be the next Surgeon General. [What? You thought this post was about the other SG?] According to Obama, Gupta "could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice," according to the Washington Post's sources. I'm sure Gupta is suitably qualified for the post. As Yuval Levin notes, it has been some time since the Surgeon General was anything more than a glorified, uniformed spokesperson for government medical authorities, our own Nanny-in-Chief.

[Note: Post edited for clarity.]

Who would have thought that President-elect Obama's plan to nominate Dr. Sanjay Gupta as the next Surgeon General would be so controversial? Paul Krugman thinks Gupta wrongly criticized Michael Moore's film Sicko and Chris Mooney didn't like Gupta's sensationalist coverage of the Raelians' cloning claims. More signficantly, Rep. John Conyers is seeking to line up opposition to a Gupta nomination among House Democrats because the medical journalist "lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance."