{"id":2694,"date":"2014-05-21T14:46:14","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T21:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2014-05-21T14:46:14","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T21:46:14","slug":"why-the-va-scandal-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2694","title":{"rendered":"WHY THE VA SCANDAL MATTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every President seems to come into office promising to fix the VA once and for all.\u00a0 Obama was no different.\u00a0 He actually increased VA spending.\u00a0 He also appointed General Eric Shinsecki, a retired four star general and former Chief of Staff of the Army.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One would have expected better results.\u00a0 Instead we are discovering that some people, actually a lot of people, at the VA are falsifying records to create the illusion of providing good service. \u00a0\u00a0The situation is so bad that there is bi-partisan outrage.\u00a0 \u00a0No one in either party even pretends that this is acceptable.<\/p>\n

I doubt seriously that this particular problem was actually Obama\u2019s fault.\u00a0 I am not sure there is much he could have done differently.\u00a0 But, it is still his problem for one simple reason.\u00a0 At a time when everyone is demanding answers from someone they can trust, no one trusts Obama.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t heard anyone in either party even pretend that Obama is capable of fixing this.\u00a0 They probably won\u2019t even ask his opinion.\u00a0 They certainly won\u2019t ask for his leadership.<\/p>\n

Obama could fire Shinseki and it wouldn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 He could appoint someone else to investigate and it wouldn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 He could give a public speech on why he is outraged and it wouldn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Actually, he has already tried some of this.\u00a0 Today Obama held another, press briefing to say he was on top of this.\u00a0 Nice, but he said the same thing back in 2008.\u00a0 Nothing Obama can say or do is remotely relative.\u00a0 That is the problem.<\/p>\n

The VA is the second largest government department, after the Department of Defense.\u00a0 It employs nearly 280,000 people.\u00a0 The 2012 budget was $132 billion and the proposed 2014 budget is $157.2 billion.\u00a0\u00a0 If money could fix the VA it would have been fixed.\u00a0\u00a0 If adding more people or spending more money on great computer programs could fix the VA it would have been fixed.\u00a0 Obama is hardly the first President to try and fix the VA and fail miserably.\u00a0 The real lesson here is that government management of the VA is the problem.\u00a0 As long as we rely on the federal government to manage the VA health care system we are going to see the same results.<\/p>\n

The big lie that Obama told was that big government works.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 It never has.\u00a0 It never will.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t worked anytime, anyplace it has been tried.\u00a0 The bigger the government the bigger the problem.\u00a0 That is why the VA is so important.\u00a0 It is the biggest of the big and it is a total mess, again.\u00a0 The real problem with the VA is that the government is trying to fix the problem.\u00a0 Obama is a case study on why big government has not, will not and cannot work.\u00a0 It also doesn\u2019t help that Obama was so self-righteous about it:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/campaign-spot\/378322\/obama-2007-time-end-deplorable-conditions-some-va-hospitals-jim-geraghty<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obama 2007:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter seven years of an Administration that has stretched our military to the breaking point, ignored deplorable conditions at some VA hospitals, and neglected the planning and preparation necessary to care for our returning heroes, America\u2019s veterans deserve a President who will fight for them not just when it\u2019s easy or convenient, but every hour of every day for the next four years.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Obama 2012:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time ever, we\u2019ve made military families and veterans a top priority not just at DOD, not just at the VA, but across the government.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Obama 2014:<\/p>\n

What was that again, I just learned about it on the news? <\/strong><\/em>(Ok.\u00a0 I paraphrased this)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The VA scandal matters for another very important reason.\u00a0 The sharks are in the water, they are circling in desperate search of prey.\u00a0 The main stream media is on it and they are openly soliciting anyone who works at the VA to contact them and tell the story.\u00a0 They did not do that with regard to Benghazi.\u00a0 They did not do that with regard to Fast & Furious.\u00a0 They did not do that with regard to the IRS targeting scandal.\u00a0 But they are sure doing it now and it won\u2019t stop with the VA.\u00a0 For the first time whistle blowers in the Obama administration have been given the all clear to come out of the woodwork and they are going to arrive in droves.\u00a0 This will be similar to what happened when Tiger Wood\u2019s wife chased him off the road with an 8 iron.\u00a0 This type of story, like a big forest fire, will start generating its own wind.\u00a0 The Camel\u2019s nose is under the Obama administration tent and it will never ever be the same.<\/p>\n

TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every President seems to come into office promising to fix the VA once and for all.\u00a0 Obama was no different.\u00a0 He actually increased VA spending.\u00a0 He also appointed General Eric Shinsecki, a retired four star general and former Chief of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nWHY THE VA SCANDAL MATTERS - SCOTS HONOR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2694\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WHY THE VA SCANDAL MATTERS - 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