WyBlog

Swine flu outbreak exposes holes in Obama's health team

Sitting around with some friends last night one of them asked why it is Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano who is leading the federal government's response to the swine flu outbreak. Why, she asked, is this a matter for what is supposed to be a law enforcement agency? Where are the public health authorities?

Where indeed? The Office of the Surgeon General is empty. TV Doc Sanjay Gupta of CNN was nominated for the position but he withdrew his name from consideration because he didn't want to take a massive pay cut. Barry hasn't gotten around to nominating anyone else for the job (Hey, to be fair, he did have to pick out a puppy for his kids.). There is no permanent director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and the top position at the Food and Drug Administration is also vacant. Over at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the top spot remains unfilled due to another failed cabinet nominee (Tom Daschle). The Senate has yet to act on confirming Daschle's replacement, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Nineteen key deputy positions at HHS are also empty and Barry hasn't selected anyone to fill them. Presumably he's waiting for Sebelius' confirmation to allow her some input into the makeup of her team. That doesn't help us much now as we move closer to a full-scale flu pandemic.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is quoted as saying "There is a team in place." Maybe. But it's not the A team (nor I suspect is it The A-Team). A crisis which has significant potential to affect millions of Americans needs more than a bunch of career bureaucrats pushing paper. We're told that the president is "closely monitoring" the situation. Okey dokey. I'd feel a lot better if he had some help.

Posted at 13:22 by Chris Wysocki   [/obama_watch]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |   |   Tweet