POTUS: MILF MD for FDA

Let me be up front here by saying that the main impetus for blogging about the appointment of Dr. Margaret Hamburg as director of the FDA is that I have finally found President Obama's Rumsfeld. No, I don't mean that Hamburg is going to become hated by the public and forced to quit. I mean I have found the sex symbol of the Obama administration. Don't you remember when Rumsfeld was still popular and giving the press an ear-full, and was dubbed "the new hunk of home-front airtime"?

President Bush said earlier this year, "As a result of his press conferences, Secretary Rumsfeld here has become my administration's sex symbol..."

Well, I can see Dr. "Peggy" Hamburg playing the same role. She will be the Obama administration's cougar in place of the Bush administration's septagenarian stud.

It's telling to me that Obama picked someone whose expertise is outside the typical roles for the FDA. Peggy's experience is mostly in public health, in infectious disease and bioterrorism. She was appointed as New York City's health commissioner by Mayor David Dinkins and kept on by Giuliani. Her most recent gig was Head Scientist at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, where she gave testimony like this. To me, this appointment says that Obama expects a decent possibility of continuing threats through mechanisms such as food importants. In case of an outbreak/attack, I can see Peggy holding daily press breifings and making Americans hot and bothered from coast to coast. Obama essentially admitted as much while announcing his pick for FDA chief:

In an era of increasing threats to our food supply, it is doubly important that the FDA be able to capture the attention of young Americans. In reflecting on how best to do this, the answer that came most readily to mind was leather. An FDA director that can look good in a form-fitted leather pantsuit is one that can communicate with young people. But not only leather. Boots are important as well, although, when we speak about boots, we have to consider the difficulty that various heel heights would confer on walking to a podium... And a riding crop would not be inappropriate, either...

NYC Mayor David Dinkins, speaking about his experience working with Hamburg, apparently conferred with this assessment:

“She took care of me like a newborn,” he said. “She’s the kind of person you figure can do almost anything.”

If you're still skeptical of my analysis after David Dinkins' endorsement, just watch this video of Peggy speaking about pandemics. Important times stamps:
00:25:00 starts speaking
00:29:18 takes glasses off
00:30:52 takes glasses off again

• bio on NIH's Changing the Face of Medicine