The Surgeon General's office was newsworthy today. The most recent occupant of the office Dr. Richard Carmona testified that he was under considerable pressure from the White House to limit his activities to those deemed ideologically appropriate.
He testified alongside two former surgeons general--including C. Everett Koop--before the House Oversight Committee which has been occupied with investigating various White House activities. All worried about the politization of the office, but Tony Snow, Bush's Press Secretary stated that "if you, in fact, serve at the pleasure of the President, you have some obligation to share his policies."
The office is a bit of a relic. At one point it actually had a degree of power, but the passage of Medicare and Medicaid legislation in the 1960s trumped it. Programs that it had control over were transfered to the Department of Health and Human Services. The Surgeon General largely exist now to advocate for health issues. The conflict with the White House is a further illustration of the perennial tension that exists between the politically minded forces associated with the president and the policy minded individuals committed to an agency's mission.
