Appointing a Doctor with Healthcare Reform Experience as Sec. of HHS
This comes largely from Daily Kos, but I am surprised I hadn't thought of it:
Now that Tom Daschle has withdrawn his name from consideration as Secretary of Health and Human Services, President Obama now faces the choice of picking a new nominee to fill that enormously important post.
There is one clear choice who stands out among all the others : Governor Howard Dean.
Or perhaps I should write Dr. Dean.
For some odd reason, being a doctor, or having serious experience in some capacity with the healthcare system, in the past has not been considered an essential qualification for Secretary of HHS. (This may help explain why healthcare is screwed up.)...
President Obama's choice of Steven Chu as Energy Secretary was universally praised because he was a physicist (and a Nobel Laureate one). What a concept, an energy secretary who actually knows something about energy...!
Beyond that, we have to consider Doctor Dean's experience as Governor of Vermont. As governor, Dean is one of the few politicians who can actually say he did healthcare reform. Vermont today has the best record in the nation for insuring kids, almost all are covered, and the general rate of uninsured Vermonters is one of the lowest in the nation, if not the lowest.
Others can talk the talk on reforming our nation's broken healthcare system, but none can really say they've walked the walk the way Dr. Dean has.
So I would urge everyone to call the White House switchboard and urge President Obama to put Dr. Dean in charge of our nation's healthcare system. The numbers are:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461TTY/TDD: Comments: 202-456-6213
Howard Dean was a popular and effective governor who had a reputation as both a moderate and as being able to get things done in collaboration with Republicans. He has ALL the experience needed in the job. The parallel with Dr. Chu for Energy Secretary is perfect. Let's get experienced, effective people running this country for once instead of political appointments that are so traditional in both parties.
Blanket smears
Ummm...if you aren't going to provide citations for these accusations, I will have to delete. Dean has already run for President...I suspect we would have heard this stuff then or when he was made head of the DNC if it was credible. So, please cite or delete.
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Homegrown Vetting for Dean
Folks need to do their own investigative reporting before issuing blind endorsements. Our nation needs and deserves it. Dean subjected a group of indigenous peoples to racist tirade (Abenaki) comitting ethnocide in the process. He used his clout to get his kid off a nighttime burglary arrest. He signed VTs gay rights bill under duress. And just cost the DNC s six figure sum in a sexual discrimination lawsuit. Regardless of his campaigning attributes this guy is a time bomb waiting to explode. Find ten ex-employees who actually liked working for him. I'm no right winger. I am more progreesive lberal far left radical then most anyone you will ever meet. Please google this stuff. I'm not making it up.
KB Richard Vermont