Aasif Mandvi wasn’t the only person to allude to the fact that Sanjay Gupta’s coming nomination makes life harder for all of us non- attractive neurosurgeon journalists. Sandip Roy, writing at New American Media, also tries to prepare us all for how hard it is going to be for us regular desis to play keep up with the Guptas now:
…I fear it’s a mixed blessing for the rest of us much more run-of-the-mill South Asians. It’s exciting to see someone who comes from your stock make it big. But another neurosurgeon-makes-good story is going to make us look even more like underachievers.
“What’s the matter, beta? Why can’t you be more like that nice Sanjay Gupta? Not just a neurosurgeon but on CNN AND meeting Obama for three hours?”
Not only is he dashing and articulate. Not only did he do brain surgery on a 2 -year-old Iraqi boy while embedded during the Iraq war, now he might be the new Surgeon-general. Let me pause, and reel in the envy!
And his only qualm, according to the Washington Post is “is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers.”
Golly. This is a South Asian parent’s dream. He’s 39 and he’s already followed the four stages of a good Hindu life - childhood, education, family and now a sort-of-renunciation-and-service… [Link]
I completely agree with Roy’s analysis. This is the reason I have been pretty bummed ever since the Gupta nomination even though I agree he is a good pick. In fact, there has been a sort of let down ever since Obama got elected. He promised that we could all “Be the change.” How can that be true though when 300,000 people submitted resumes for ~7000 “change” jobs? Its like musical chairs and I, like may of you, am left without a seat. I’m the wrong kind of doctor, just a blogger and not a journalist, and I’m not quite so…model-like. I can’t even complain that he had access to a better education at an elitist school since we went to the same school. In short, I’m rapidly turning into a bitter hater, much like conservative pundit Stephen Colbert who basically implies in the clip below that Gupta isn’t qualified since he is a “dick eater”:
“January 7, 2009
“Dear Colleague,
“Please join me in signing a letter to President-Elect Barack Obama that Dr. Sunjay (sic) Gupta not be nominated for the post of Surgeon General.
“I join in opposition with respected Noble (sic) Peace Prize award wining economist Paul Krugman, who has very serious concerns with having Dr. Gupta be the nation’s Surgeon General. (See January 6, 2009, New York Times Hosted Blog, ‘Conscience of a Liberal.’ Available at http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/the-trouble-with-sanjay-gupta.)
“Also, there are highly experienced medical professionals who question whether Dr. Gupta has the necessary experience or even the medical background to be in charge of some 6,000 physicians or more who work in the United States Public Health Service. Gerard M. Farrel, Executive Director of the Commissioned Officers Association, stated in the January 7, 2008 Washington Post that Dr. Gupta will certainly face a ‘credibility gap’ because he never served in the National Health Service Corp, and furthermore, does not have the ‘experience or qualifications to be the leader of the nation’s public health service.’ [Link]
Yes, Sanjay’s name is spelled wrong, Nobel is spelled wrong, and Krugman did not win a Peace Prize. A local Cincinnati paper has it’s own theory on Conyer’s opposition:
The eldest brother of Cincinnati NAACP President Christopher Smitherman has been recommended to be appointed U.S. Surgeon General.
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Dr. Herbert Smitherman, 48, who graduated from Walnut Hills High School and the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine, has spent his career in Detroit, where he is an assistant dean at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
“That’s my big brother,” Christopher Smitherman said. “Even if he doesn’t get the job, just to have his name in the hopper is really something we’re proud of.”
Dr. Smitherman first was recommended to President-elect Barack Obama by U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit. Since, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm also wrote a recommendation.
Dr. Smitherman met his wife, Lynn, in medical school here. She also is a physician, and they have two children. [Link]
I mean seriously? You think some unknown named Dr. Smitherman is the best one qualified for what is essentially a PR job? I hate to say it but maybe Mandvi was actually right in his Daily Show report and the different minorities are trying to one up each other in a race. One of the most powerful African American congressmen is essentially throwing a hissy-fit because the brother of the NAACP President didn’t get the nod ahead of Gupta. Luckily the Senate and not the House is the body that will hold confirmation hearings:
If Gupta is nominated, he will go through Senate confirmation hearings. U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said he would support a Gupta appointment and does not foresee much opposition in the Senate.
“He’s one of the best communicators on the subject of health I’ve ever seen,” Isakson said. [Link]
So I say to my fellow haters, let’s just accept this and soldier on in our comparatively unproductive lives. It could have been a lot worse. Just imagine if Gupta had also won the spelling bee at age 12.
