Obama Flexes Centrist, Couch Potato Credentials In Surgeon General Pick

Barack Obama hasn't even taken office yet, and he's already gotten so lazy that he's just ordering administrators off the TV. We're talking about CNN's televised doctor, Sanjay Gupta, whom Obama is prepared to tap for surgeon general...

President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Gupta has told administration officials that he wants the job, and the final vetting process is under way. He has asked for a few days to figure out the financial and logistical details of moving his family from Atlanta to Washington but is expected to accept the offer.

By picking a journalist from CNN, Obama further establishes himself as a centrist. One can only imagine the outcry from the right and left, respectively if he had picked MSNBC's resident nutritionist, Moby, or Fox News's dean of health, the Marlboro Man.

And a TV personality like Gupta also establishes Obama's credentials among the all-important couch potato demographic-- a group projected to keep growing, given recent unemployment figures.

Accordingly, expect the President-elect to continue to reach out to this group-- starting with appointing Judge Joe Brown to the Supreme Court and replacing milquetoast deputy budget director Clay Johnson with a ShamWow.

SEE ALSO: Mo Rocca on Sanjay Gupta