They were looking at a former majority leader in the senate but now want a doctor howabout both. Bill Frist.
Good riddance. Time for Obama to choose someone who is not compromised by being beholden to the insurance industry, or CEO's of the health industry complex. Obama Care is looking (and I hope I'm wrong) like Hillary Care-- a complicated mess trying like hell to involve, despite budget problems, the inherently economically inefficient insurance middlemen. The insurance industry, hospital corporation CEO's etc may play along for awhile, but in the end Obama will receive no more cooperation than he got from the GOP in the House for his stimulus plan.
He would be great. Supposedly Rohm sp? Emmanuel and possibly other Obama insiders (Obama?) hate Dean. .
I think it's a bit stunning that one of the top 3 or 4 people responsible for the amazing victory we had in November is completely left out in the cold. Not even a whisper of an appointment. I think he would be great at HHS. You need an organized salesperson, with deep knowledge of the subject (healthcare and making it "national"), a person that, as you point out, doesn't have deep ties to the industry, but knows it, to help get a good bill passed. Dean fits that to a T, in my opinion.
I don't think Obama's actually a fan of the House version of the bill. I believe his plan is to improve it dramatically within conference. He even gave private blessings to a Dem to vote against it: http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/02/03/the-coop-is-loose/ Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing. They know its a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill. Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous. They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like. If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time. I think this is Pelosi gone wild, and Obama is sort of quietly working against it and with the Senate here, which is working on a much better bill, I believe.
I think it's a terrible idea, but commentators all over the country have an interesting idea for HHS secretary. Someone with experience implementing universal healthcare and well-regarded for his management skills. Spoiler MittRomney[/quote]
