Kudos to you if you remember Dr. Elders. If not …
There's a story in today's NYTimes about testimony given before Congress by Richard Carmona, who was Surgeon General from 2002 to 2006. In his testimony, he described the political pressures put upon him by other Bushies; e.g., they " … would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues … " It goes downhill from there to a point of true surreality:
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.And on and on and on. No great surprise, although the details make even my jaded heart sink.
This being the NYT, we have to hear "the other side." Enter the trained seal of the moment, drawn from the Bush Administration's limitless supply of blandly named people who will say anything for money:
Bill Hall, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that the administration disagreed with Dr. Carmona’s statements. "It has always been this administration's position that public health policy should be rooted in sound science," Mr. Hall said.
I guess if you're the sort of person who is convinced that the Book of Genesis tells you all you need to know about cosmology and biology, you might accept that.
I have to say, however, that by the time I got to the end of the article, I had almost zero sympathy for Carmona. It sounded like Colin Powell all over again. I wanted to scream in his face, "Why did you wait until NOW to speak up?"
In general, there's an argument to be made for serving out one's term, and another one for sticking to it with the idea of making changes from within. But there comes a time -- read: any moment during the Bush Administration -- when things are so obviously wrong, and the possibilities of being an effective counterweight so remote, that the only responsible thing to do is to speak up. Either resign with a bang, or refuse to be handled until you embarrass your handlers into tossing you overboard.
Thanks for your testimony, Dr. Carmona. Now go away, please.
2 comments:
I, too, wish that a disgruntled member of the Bush administration had been more forthcoming: Christine Todd Whitman quit as head of the EPA to "spend more time with her family." It's only now, years later, that she's acknowledged that she couldn't stomach VP Cheney's railroading on the issue of emissions from renovated coal plants.
I understand they don't want to bite the boss who's fed them, but I wish more of Bush's administration had followed Paul O'Neill's lead.
I wish more disgruntled people would burn some bridges. Stir the pot, create some havoc. Turn this administration upside down.
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