According to The Washington Post, CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta has been asked by Barack Obama to take the job of Surgeon General - and Gupta has accepted pending vetting.

Comments on the Post site are mixed, but this is not necessarily a bad pick. Obama is obviously leading toward the “Surgeon General as Health Spokesman in Chief” model as opposed to selecting someone to administer the Public Health Service.  That’s probably appropriate since the biggest threats to America’s health are poor habits and misinformation.

As Dr. C. Everett Koop showed during his tenure, a telegenic voice of good health habits can probably have a lot more impact on the Average Joe than a health policy wonk wearing a funny Captain Crunch suit.

I’ve avoided this topic on purpose for a while now. Recently after an Obama press conference next door at the Chicago Hilton someone in my office asked if I was stunned by how few Black reporters were there.

My answer: “No, not in the least.”  Didn’t say I did not notice, but I certainly was not stunned.

People who remember seem to find it upsetting that there were more black reporters covering Jackson 20 years ago in 1988 than Obama in 2008. But that’s not a surprise at all. Here some real perspective:

In both 1984 and 1988, nobody -especially white editors at major newspapers - thought Jesse Jackson had even a hint at winning. Certainly not in 1984. As a result, if they assigned anyone they assigned an expendable Black reporter, Black producer and/or Black camera operator.

Many of today’s veteran Black reporters cut their teeth in this arrangement - Sylvester Monroe, Jack White, Pamela Newkirk, Gwen Ifill, Juan Williams, Milton Coleman, George Curry, Kenneth Walker and Sam Fulwood among others.

To the great surprise of those editors,  Jesse Jackson was a force to be reckoned with. But once he became the story, those papers and networks were stuck with the Black people they went with initially.  Other organizations went the other way entirely and specifically sent white reporters, thinking that Black reporters would not be objective.

This time around, Obama started off as a rock star. Editors may have dismissed him as the ultimate victor, but they certainly saw the potential of the story. The result? Most sent their favorite (i.e. not black) writers. Hence, a fairly monochromatic press corps.

There’s also a money issue. One man crews and zoned coverage is the order of the day. The media outlets that can afford to send multiple people to travel with a candidate are few and far between. That also cuts out the number of people at the producer level who can participate and learn the process. Even our own publication, Ebony, had to make the decision quite a few times to send either a writer or a photographer, but rarely both.

But that’s not the issue, really. The question is, “Does Blackness mean fairness in covering a Black candidate or president?” And the answer is emphatically no.  I obviously speak from the opposing political side as a former Jackson aide, but at least in the case of Juan Williams and Milton Coleman, we always felt we got a more fair shake from the white guys. I’m just being honest. In our opinion, there were a few Black reporters who were so intent on proving their fairness to their white editors, that they went overboard in their critical evaluation of the campaigns and their missions.

I should qualify that I know and like both of those gentlemen, as people if not reporters, so no attempt to call them out but I do want to be historically accurate.

I suppose my point is that I am deeply conflicted about the passioned calls in the journalism community for more Black reporters to cover the Obama Administration specifically. Partially because - as I suggested above - Blackness is no guarantee of fairness or cultural understanding. Also, it’s tough to argue outside of journalism that Black people are not monolithic in our culture or thinking, and then suggest that culturally relevant coverage of Obama can only come from a Black person.  That may indeed be true, but not because the person is just Black, but Black and sensitive, Black and knowledgeable, Black and damn good.

But it really begs the question, why just of Obama? Considering the damaging impact Bush had on Black America, why would it not have been equally necessary - if not more so - to make sure Black reporters covered the Bush Administration up close?  Or call for Black coverage of the Republican convention? Or cover China, given its impact on Africa’s future and America’s economy, and the trickle down impact of both on Black people?

Just food for thought.

The White House Transition Office just releases a slide show of the Obama’s preparations for first day of school at Washington DC’s Sidwell Friends.

CLICK HERE to see the full show.

I’m really actively trying not to touch my computer - I really am. But damn, people like Rod Blagojevich and the media elite that’s using the economy as a crutch to get rid of people is making my fingers all itchy.

First on Blago:

A brilliant stroke for Blagojevich to pull in Roland Burris as his pick. And that “accidental” speech given by Bobby Rush who “just happened to be in the room”? Pure drama. Pure comedy. Pure genius.

But what the hell is Roland Burris thinking? Well, for starters he’s the former Attorney General and he knows just a little about the law, and chances are that after all this mess unclutters a bit, he’s the next Senator from Illinois. For two years anyhow. He’ll never win in the next election cycle. But who cares? He’ll get to say he was a Senator in the greatest legislative body in Earth and he can die happy. If he doesn’t get seated, however, it’s back to making millions in government contracting. What’s he got to lose except a bit of respect.

As for all these media companies acting as if they’re in dire straits, well yes they are - sort of. Money is tight and they need to cut back, but don’t sleep. Many of these companies are just using the current state of advertising to cut people with the highest salaries and make the kind of buyout offers they would not have been able to make in good times without being sued.

The latest salvo in the phenomenon - The Village Voice just laid off Nat Hentoff. Nat “freakin” Hentoff! Unbelievable.

I’m using my editor’s privilege again here, as I always do I suppose.

Someone who I admire very much, Jim Brady, the executive editor of washingtonpost.com just announced that he is cutting out. Presumably on to greener, more appreciative pastures, but who knows. I have not talked with him or anyone there about it.

Most people in the web biz are petty cool, mostly because of the bond built by being the misunderstood kids in the corporate corridors. When the parent company is a print vehicle, that misunderstood problem get doubled. As a result, web folks don’t look at each other as much as competitors but as co-conspirators, sharing secrets and all trying to work toward the greater goal of proving the web concept. Whoever gets there first - great for them and wonderful for the rest of us who come after.

Jim more than anyone in the business embodies that spirit, and was always willing to share. I learned plenty from him, directly and indirectly, when I was at wp.com.

I only hope that he is leaving of his own volition and because of a great opportunity to do something else, as opposed to frustration. Jim always battled like a champ with his print counterparts over the direction of the web and deftly managed the kind of bigfooting and meddling that came from people who knew just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to really “get it”. That can kill anybody’s spirit after a while. And even in that environment, Jim led washingtonpost.com to the kind of awards for innovation in the medium that other organizations would die for. That’s a major accomplishment and says everything about his skill, leadership and temperament.

Washingtonpost.com lost a bunch of people over the last two years, and that happens. But Jim was the symbolic spirit of the place. It will live on, but my guess is that the loss will be tangible. But it’s a wonderful world post-Post, as those of us who escaped will attest. I wish him nothing but the best. Good luck, Jim.

On the other hand, I can probably wait for this one.

Absolutely. Can’t. Wait.

OK, posting this is going to get me so fired, but this is funny.

The program for Inauguration Day has been announced and it’s –pretty boring, actually. Considering that the invocation is being given by Rick Warren, I can only assume  that the “San Francisco Boys Chorus” is made up of actual children.

The United States Marine Band

Musical Selections: The San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus

Call to Order and Welcoming Remarks: The Honorable Dianne Feinstein

Invocation: Dr. Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA

Musical Selection : Aretha Franklin

Oath of Office Administered to Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr.: By Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

The Honorable John Paul Stevens

Musical Selection, John Williams, composer/arranger

Itzhak Perlman, Violin

Yo-Yo Ma, Cello

Gabriela Montero, Piano

Anthony McGill, Clarinet

Oath of Office Administered to President-elect Barack H. Obama: By the Chief Justice of the United States

The Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr.

Inaugural Address: The President of the United States, The Honorable Barack H. Obama

Poem: Elizabeth Alexander

Benediction: The Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery

The National Anthem :The United States Navy Band “Sea Chanters”

One of the things I love about Turner Classic Movies is that I can always reliably get my black and white movie fix. Luxury for me is a Sunday with the wife and kids at church or out shopping, and me at home with the New York Times, a good bottle of wine and a great film noir or other 1930s style movie with great overacting and all the guys in tuxedos no matter what time of day. Bliss.

Unfortunately, those times only come around midnite these days and I’m too tired to enjoy it. But the other day, TCM showed Cecil B. DeMille’s 1929 film, The Godless Girl, and I was riveted.

If you don’t know this film (and I did not) the story centers around a California high school and the battle for dominance between Christian students and a secret society of young atheists, and the terrible consequences that result from their strident proselytizing.

But it all ends in a very different way, with the initial point getting buried and the whole movie switching to a screed against juvenile detention. What’s fascinating is the amazing way it’s shot - brilliant action, expert lighting, and the story line that so relates so remarkably to current conflicts between the Christian right and the liberal orthodoxy. It’s yet another in a long line of works documenting the reality that the more things change the more things stay the same.

Here’s a longer film description with pictures.