Obama and many of his supporters have claimed that problems with the VA go back many years.
While there is some truth to that, they’ve neglected to point out that prior to becoming president, Senator Barack Obama served on the Veterans Affairs Committee.
This was a very good catch by Weasel Zippers…
Yesterday, Barack Obama appeared to try to shift responsibility for the VA scandal to his predecessors, saying the problems “predated my presidency” and “I only found out from reporters”.Yes, problems did predate his presidency, but things became exponentially worse while he was in charge. Under him came not just long waits, but clearly a rampant policy of lying and deception concerning those wait times. This involved reports lying to Congress about those times.Before Obama entered office in 2009, his transition team was also briefed as to the wait time problem…Now, one more thing.In case you weren’t aware of it, Barack Obama was also on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee from 2005-2008. He’s had almost ten years where he has had a responsibility to address these issues. What was he doing then while our veterans waited?
Frances Martel of Breitbart notes that while Obama says he accepts responsibility, he’s all too willing to remind everyone of his predecessor…
President Obama announced the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Friday, vowing to take full responsibility for the increasingly widespread scandal engulfing the VA’s health services. Within seconds of taking responsibility, however, the President made sure to assert that the problems “predate my presidency.””This predates my presidency. When I was in the Senate, I was on the Veterans Affairs Committee. I heard first-hand veterans who were not getting the kinds of services and benefits that they had earned,” the President said to the White House Press Corps this afternoon. The assertion that the VA scandal was an ongoing cultural problem within the institution followed declaration that he would “always take responsibility for whatever happens,” particularly with regard to Veterans Affairs.
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