Physician Apologizes for Spreading Image of Obama as Witch Doctor

Dr. David McKalip is vigorously backpedaling away from an e-mail he recently sent, which pictures the president in a headdress, loincloth, and with a bone poking through his nose, under the tagline "Obamacare."

Via TPM, McKalip -- a neurosurgeon and opponent of the Obama administration's health care plan -- apologized for forwarding the image, saying:

"I genuinely regret the decision I made in passing this e-mail message along. Directly to President Obama, I sincerely apologize for offending him. This was, in no way whatsoever, my intention. The image has nothing to do with my feelings or thoughts on any race or culture. I recognize that this image is offensive and hope that the nation refocuses on assuring all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable health care with no party interfering in the patient-physician relationship. My intention is to focus directly on the issue at hand, which is putting financial and decision-making power into the hands of patients and taking it from government and insurance companies."

I suppose an apology is better than a refusal to offer one. (Public service announcement: I think we should also take a moment to acknowledge how annoying it is to always forward e-mails to everyone on a contact list. You may think that you have something that is the exception to this rule. Let me assure you right now: You do not.)

Still, I'm not terribly impressed by the sincerity of McKalip's apology. If his intention really was to focus the health care debate on the issues, than he would have, I don't know, talked about them in the first place. More likely, the intention was the opposite: to focus the debate as far from the issues -- and the lack of any solutions that he was presenting -- as possible. You really don't have to be a brain surgeon to figure that one out.