Obama’s Predictable Response to VA Problems

This Memorial Day, let’s also remember “The Obama Crisis Response Template.”

1: Express surprise that your policy (Fast and Furious gunrunning, IRS targeting conservative groups, Benghazi gunrunning to Al Qaeda in Syria, Obamacare policies gouging Americans, canceling their good policies and denying them their doctors and hospitals, watching veterans die while Veterans Administration officials put them on secret waiting lists) has even occurred.

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2: Express anger that this has happened.

3: Deflect Criticism.

4: Blame Bush.

Follow the Veterans Administration scandal timeline and you’ll recognize how it parallels events in other Obama scandals.

In 2008, Veterans Administration officials specifically tell the President and his transition team that wait times are becoming dangerously long and the real (secret) wait times for veterans to get the medical help they need are being hidden. There needs to be an investigation.

Fast forward to 2014.

1: (Express surprise) As reported by a London newspaper, “A CNN reporter asked (Obama spokesweasel Jay) Carney on Monday when the president was ‘first made aware … of these fraudulent lists that were being kept to hide the wait times’ at VA medical centers.

“You mean the specific allegations,’ Carney asked, ‘that I think were reported first by your news network out of Phoenix, I believe?’

“We learned about them through the reports.’”

Yes, even though President Obama and his transition team were briefed by the Veterans Administration in 2008 specifically about secret wait times, they pretend they didn’t hear about it until it was on CNN recently.

2: (Express anger) Obama Administration officials appeared on Sunday talk shows and chatted to the press about how “angry” the President is about the VA wait times. Oh, my, he’s so angry. He actually used the phrase, “Mad as hell.” Coincidentally, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told a Senate panel he was “mad as hell” over veterans dying while they waited for medical care. Did they test the phrase “mad as hell” with a focus group before their appearances?

3: (Deflect Criticism) When confronted with the proof that the President and his team were briefed in 2008 on the wait times and only expressed anger now, over five years later, when the deaths of veterans waiting for medical care was uncovered by news reporters, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough told a reporter that the President has been “talking” about veterans issues for years, including suicides and morbidity. He managed to redirect the conversation to veterans issues that have nothing to do with deadly wait times.

Nice deflection that should anger every American.

4: (Blame Bush) When forced to respond to reporters armed with the proof Veterans Administration officials briefed the President and his team on doctored VA wait time reports in 2008, Obama spokesweasel Jay Carney squealed that the problems extended back into the Bush years and is happening because there are so many disabled veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, it’s Bush’s fault that Democrats gave him the authority to invade Iraq and Afghanistan and that VA backlogs had begun even before those two wars.

The difference is that President Obama knew it was happening and failed to “retire” generals in charge of the VA.

When President Bush actually did learn about filthy conditions at Walter Reed Hospital, heads rolled. Two Generals in charge suddenly “retired” and a bipartisan committee was formed to oversee cleaning up the filth and provide the best care our country can offer.

When President Obama learned about the deadly waiting times for veterans in 2008, he did a lot of talking. Only when the national press picked up on the casualties directly related to a lack of interest in fixing the problem did an administrator “publicly” retire. However, the VA administrator had already announced his retirement earlier, so it was more Kabuki theater to give the American public the false impression that President Obama was trying to solve the problem. A stunt the President has employed before.

If President Bush hadn’t used Congress’ approval to invade Iraq, Barack Obama would likely not be President and these deadly policies would not exist.

I blame Bush.

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© Copyright 2014 Rick Jensen, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.