I wrote in passing yesterday that if President Obama or the people of this country had any self-respect, he’d resign over the scandal of the Veterans Affairs hospitals, which needlessly sentenced an unknown number of American veterans to death through their combination of managerial incompetence, medical malpractice, and monstrously cruel indifference to their clients. Other heads of government have resigned for less. President Obama presented himself to the public as an authority in the field of health-care management and as an executive who not only would insist upon but also would in fact achieve the highest standards in transparent, honest, competent government. He has failed, comprehensively. An honest man acknowledges his failures.
We know from years of experience now that the president is the very antithesis of an honest man. And in his own self delusion, he considers himself indispensable.
[Update a couple minutes later]
The failure of socialized medicine:
Many have wondered about Barack Obama’s prolonged silence concerning the disastrous situation at the Veterans Administration hospitals and then his odd detached demeanor (well, maybe not that odd for him) when he finally did discuss it at a press conference.
The answer is simple. His lifetime dream of a free public (single payer) healthcare system for all just disintegrated in front of him. Forget the wildly ambitious and pervasive “Affordable Care Act,” the government couldn’t even handle the health of our wounded servicemen, acknowledged for years to be by far the group most deserving of medical attention in our country. With veterans dying while waiting lists are falsified, it’s hard to see government healthcare as anything but incompetent, disgraceful and quite possibly criminal.
Government has failed utterly. Does anyone have any doubt that Halliburton or even the dreaded Koch brothers could have better handled the health of our wounded warriors? Probably almost any business would have. There at least would have been some accountability. (It’s interesting to see the quaint Bernie Sanders, the one self-described socialist in the Congress, as opposed to the closeted ones, being the most outspoken defender of VA malfeasance and urging us not to “rush to judgement” on a three page bill.)
But it’s not just healthcare, although it’s certainly prominent, important and symbolic. The Obama administration has been the best advertisement for libertarianism across the board in recent memory.
Well, we’ll see what happens this fall.
It is rather amusing Roger Simon holds up Halliburton as the people who should take care of
wounded vets when Halliburton was involved in so many scandals in Iraq, such as
electrocuting troops http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/27/military.electrocutions/
or http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/04/kbr-may-have-knowingly-poisoned-us-soldiers-in-iraq-but-it-wont-pay-a-penny.html poisoning troops or poisoning the Gulf of Mexico.
The fact that this “waiting list”, which is nothing short of a death list, occurred in at least 23 places (and counting) at the same time heavily indicates that it was a directed policy, not a glitch.
Just like the millions (I’m one) who lost their health insurance thanks to Obamacare, it’s an intentional policy shielded by lies.
I think that the biggest as-yet-unknown aspects of the VA scandal are, #1, when did the death lists start, and #2, at whose orders. As for the latter, I think murder charges are in order.
I think the phrase “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” is going to be heard often regarding this scandal. However, as in other cases where that question has been asked of this administration, Obama can defend himself by claiming to know nothing about anything. He’s one of the few people in history who can credibly claim such an infinite level of ignorance.
Sounds like Britain’s NHS: ‘The waiting list for treatment is two years.’ ‘How long am I likely to live without treatment?’ ‘About eighteen months.’
Have they imported the ‘Liverpool Care Pathway’ (aka ‘starving old farts to death’), too?
As is typically the case with Liberals, their accusations are merely prejections of their own thoughts, desires, objectives:
“Die quickly”
Alan Greyson
I’m still trying to figure out why this is big news all of a sudden. The problems with VA medicine have been known (and sometimes acknowledged) since at least the late 1970s. Some VA hospitals are quite good, but the majority of them have been bad jokes since long before I retired from the Navy (1999).
This is very true.
“There is no VA scandal! In fact, there are no scandals and never have been any scandals in Dear Leader’s reign! The only ‘scandals’ are phony pseudo-scandals invented by the forces of Emanuel Goldstein and designed to distract the masses from their main duty: submitting!”–Baghdad Jim
The VA should be shut down in a phased way and the Veterans given vouchers for use in private facilities. It would be difficult to unload all the vets onto the private system so start with one group (most in need of care? Least? By infirmity?) and phase in all of them in a year’s time.
Kurt Schlicter has it right:
“If the government bureaucrats will let the veterans who the politicians need as campaign props drop dead, what chance have you got?”
Mindless lefty robo-trons should sit down and stop and think about this very carefully.
http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2014/05/26/heres-a-memorial-day-idea-washington–stop-killing-our-warriors-n1842945/page/full
I’m reminded of the Bush administration and the Hurricane Katrina fiasco as Bush’s choice of FEMA head appeared so disastrously before a congressional hearing. He appeared to be either incompetent or uncaring or both. And despite Bush’s statement that “Brownie” was doing a great job, he had to go.
Shinseki had the same kind of appearance before the congressional hearing on the VA scandal. Hard to believe this of a four-star general but he had the appearance of being incompentant or uncaring, and actually both. Some have said perhaps this has some connection to his cultural background but such a passive approach to the problem from a leader can lead to a passive approach to it by his subordinates. At this point Shinseki has to go.
What’s even more disturbing though is Obama’s appearance in regards to the problem. Even Dem’s say his speech on it was “detached” and “tepid”. How can a Commander in Chief be uncaring about the kind of medical treatment the troops he has responsibility for sending into harm’s way receive when they return? How could he even give that appearance??
Bob Clark
Wasn’t Shinseki the politically correct general who had everyone in the army issued special-forces berets, made in China? Prizes for all!