So Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services. It was probably for the best, what with his many conflicts of interests, but it does present the question of what happens to his position as head of the Health Reform Working Group in the White House. Does he stay on or does he leave that position as well?
Regardless of what Daschle ends up doing, we are doubtlessly going to see a rush from the left-wing blogosphere to anoint Howard Dean as the new choice for HHS. Not just a rush, but a "ZOMG HOWARD DEAN FOR HHS" rush. Ok, so he's a doctor. And he's as progressive as they come. All right. But surely we can all agree that there is a plethora of qualified candidates out there for this position. Let's not rush to crown Howard Dean the King of Health Care. We're only setting ourselves up for disappointment.
Let's not kid ourselves. Howard Dean at HHS is a long shot. Governor Dean would be an outstanding choice, but I don't think President Obama is going to go that route. We have a tendency in political observation to speculate on current and former politicians for Cabinet posts without considering two crucial groups - people in the private sector and academics. Remember how stunned we were by Steven Chu?
To be quite honest, I would prefer an academic or health care professional at HHS - somebody who's been studying the ins and outs of the health care debate full-time for decades. It could be a professor, a leading doctor, or the head of a nurses' union. If there's one thing we need in our quest for universal health-care, it's someone who's been crunching the numbers and who knows where the bodies are buried in the health-care community. So let's not be afraid to give a look to those deserving individuals who've made it their business to know about health care for decades.