Obama’s best choice

Obama’s best choice

Press-Register, Mobile, Ala.: President Obama’s nominee for surgeon general — southwest Alabama’s Regina Benjamin — is more than casually acquainted with the problems that bedevil Americans and their health.

Dr. Benjamin, whose nomination was announced Monday, has close relatives who died of diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV and lung cancer. In addition, as founder of the Bayou La Batre Health Clinic, she is intimately familiar with the struggle to provide health care services in rural communities.

Her clinic treats poor and low-income patients, many of whom have no health insurance. For those reasons and more, Dr. Benjamin appears to be a good fit for the role of America’s top doc.

We look forward to the Senate hearings on her nomination, and have every reason to believe that Regina Benjamin will serve her country well.