President Obama granted a rare interview with the Colorado Springs Gazette last week while he was in town for the Air Force Academy graduation. The interview was held in the locker room at Falcon Stadium, and lasted just long enough for Obama to tell us that he’s out of touch with the needs of the nation’s veterans.
“If you look at, for example, VA health care, there have been challenges getting people into the system. Once they are in, they are extremely satisfied and the quality of care is very high.”
Has anyone told the president that numerous investigations have revealed that when veterans face that “challenge” of getting into the hospital system, they die?
It also looks like no one in his administration bothered to tell him about the Micky Mouse comment his VA secretary made recently about the wait times to get medical treatment. Secretary Robert McDonald actually insisted that wait times not be measured at VA hospitals because no one cares or counts the hours spent in line at Disney.
Again, no one is dying, literally, to ride Space Mountain at Disney World, but they are while waiting for medical care at some VA facilities.
“I think Secretary McDonald has done a terrific job,” the president said. “Since there’s only eight months left in my administration, he’s got all the way until then to run through the tape.”
In other words, calls for McDonald’s resignation by members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, will continue to be ignored along with the actual problems within the agency.
.@POTUS is incapable of fixing VA problems bc he won’t take responsibility 4 failures 2 meet obligations 2 our #vets https://t.co/7piMQYOgsF
— Rep. Mike Coffman (@RepMikeCoffman) June 6, 2016
The Obama administration has done nothing substantial to address the outrageous wait times that have cost some veterans their lives, a problem the public has known about now for three years.
Obama told The Gazette his administration will “get the systems rolling” by beginning the process of updating computers and software to address the wait times, a project that would take five years once that ball actually gets rolling.
This is beyond unacceptable.
Obama has planned so carefully to ensure his legacy will be that of a peacemaker who ended wars and closed Gitmo. He might have saved the lives of our foreign enemies, too bad he couldn’t do the same for those who actually fought for this country.