I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me! This is a flashback to the Stuart Smalley Daily Affirmations SNL skit from the 1990s. Stuart’s self-affirmation, delivered by former comedian and former U.S Senator Al Franken, is a good mantra for all of the 10,000 HHS staff that were fired yesterday. And former Senator Franken knows something about resigning from his job. I was thinking about former Senator Franken because he suddenly appeared, playing a Senator, in my new favorite Netflix series: The Residence. I explain how this connects to what is going on in health policy in the One Thoughtful Paragraph.
Some news about people getting hired, not fired:
- The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as NIH Director and Dr. Marty Makary as FDA Commissioner. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee also advanced Dr. Oz’s nomination as CMS Administrator, with a confirmation expected early next week.
- The White House nominated Susan Monarez for CDC Director, who has led several health IT initiatives in previous roles, including overseeing data innovation for public health at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and as a fellow at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
- The Trump administration is reportedly considering two health IT experts to lead ASTP/ONC, according to Politico: Ryan Howells, Principal at Leavitt Partners and leader of the health IT-focused CARIN Alliance, and Thomas Keane, a radiologist and former senior advisor to HHS under both the Biden and first Trump administrations.
If you feel like you have something you really want to say, try to make that feeling go away. This is NOT what Secretary Kennedy said to the 10,000 HHS staffers he fired yesterday — he actually referred to them as “good-natured, intelligent employees” who are suffering from a bloated bureaucracy. Instead, this line is what Cordelia Cupp, the fictional greatest detective in the world and avid birder, says to her detective protégé in the Netflix series The Residence. The limited “Shondaland” production is a murder mystery about the death of the Chief Usher at the White House during a state dinner with Australia (so, naturally, the fictious state dinner includes Hugh Jackman, who is repeatedly referred to but never actually seen on the show). It is an incredibly witty and clever story about the dedicated staff of the White House that work with the transient set that flow through there every four years or so. It was a reminder that the government seems like it is run by the public-facing personas we see on TV, when in fact the government is run by dedicated, long-time employees no one knows the names of and few people realize what they do behind the scenes. For those who have never worked for the federal government, The Residence is a good opportunity to see how much goes into the small things – like the seating chart at a state dinner. One does wonder who at HHS will now be available to “set the table.” At one point in The Residence series, the Chief Usher’s assistant says “If you want to understand the White House residence, you have to understand this. We ARE the house. All these other people [referring to POTUS and other politicians], they are not. It is us versus them.”
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