Friday, May 30, 2014
From: Gary L. Bauer
Shinseki Resigns. Now What?
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki submitted his resignation this morning. After meeting with Shinseki at the White House, President Obama told reporters, “With considerable regret, I accepted. We don’t have time for distractions. We need to fix the problem.”
While I agree that Shinseki needed to go, the White House is counting on the media to fall in line now and “move on.” Brace yourself for all kinds of rhetoric about how decisive Obama has been and how he is taking charge.
But rhetoric doesn’t matter as much as the record, so let me remind you about the record.
- After the 2008 election, the Bush transition team warned Obama about “data integrity issues” at the VA that were “delaying — and potentially denying — deserving veterans timely care.” Five years later, nothing has been done. Other warnings were ignored as well.
- In 2009, Obama promised to merge medical histories from the Pentagon and the VA, enabling veterans to have “lifelong electronic medical records.” It was a billion-dollar disaster that turned out to be a preview of the disastrous Obamacare rollout.
- In 2009, Obama signed the MOVE Act, designed to improve voting at overseas military bases. But a 2012 inspector general’s report found that the administration wasn’t complying with the law.So, Shinseki is gone. Now what?In response to Eric Shinseki’s resignation, American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger, said: “It is not the solution, yet it is a beginning. …But it was never just about a few of the top leaders. The solution is to weed out the incompetence and corruption.”
Dellinger is absolutely right — big government incompetence and corruption is the problem. Sadly, this scandal is far from over. To underscore that point, a new report released today finds that “wait times were manipulated at more than 60 percent” of VA facilities.
Carney Bails Too
It’s a big day for bailouts at the White House. Press Secretary Jay Carney resigned too. I hope he finds honest work after this. Carney had a fairly solid reputation prior to joining the Obama White House.
The press secretary’s job is a tough job. But lately, Carney’s performance all too often crossed the line from defending his boss through the astute use of words to what many felt was out-right deception. Check out this example.
What Difference Does It Make?
Hillary Clinton’s book, “Hard Choices,” is coming out soon, and we already know how she is going to handle the Benghazi scandal. Consider this quote from the chapter of her book on the Benghazi attacks:
“Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country. I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong, and it’s unworthy of our great country. Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me.”
Notice what Hillary is doing here. It’s the same faux outrage that the left has always done so well. Hillary appears to be taking the high ground, defending four dead Americans. She won’t defile their memory by getting into the mud with members of the “vast right-wing conspiracy.”But why are Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty dead? She claims to be protecting their honor, but she wasn’t willing to protect their lives! It was her State Department that repeatedly refused requests for additional security.
What difference does it make? Hillary is partly responsible for the fact that four Americans died in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Explaining the truth to the American people is not “politicizing a tragedy.”
The Tennessee Taliban?
Referring to pro-family, pro-life conservatives as the “American Taliban” is a favorite epithet among the “tolerant” left. It is being thrown around now by pro-abortion advocates in an absurd ad opposing a pro-life ballot initiative in Tennessee.
While commonsense restrictions to abortion are sweeping across the country, Tennessee has turned into a magnet for out-of-state abortions due to a radical state Supreme Court decision in 2000 that went beyond Roe v. Wade.
This November Tennessee residents will vote on Amendment One — a constitutional amendment that would restore balance to the law. If Amendment One passes, it would permit the state legislature, for example, to require abortion facilities to meet basic health and safety standards, to approve waiting periods or to require parental notification before a teenage girl can get an abortion.
To the left these overwhelmingly popular, commonsense limits are the equivalent of the Taliban’s barbaric policies and practices.
Ironically, the pro-abortion ad has divided the left. It is being blasted by some civil rights groups, and Muslims are especially upset because the ad features a man in a turban stomping on a woman. “What that automatically as a woman signals to me is I need to fear any man who has a turban on,” said Remziya Suleyman.
Speaking Of The Taliban…
Unfair housing, voting and employment laws. Discriminatory taxes. Religious and legal prohibitions on intermarriage. Church burnings and other acts of violence committed with impunity. These were a few of the injustices that black Americans suffered in the American South for nearly a century through the mid-1960s.
Jim Crow was a wicked regime of state-sponsored segregation and discrimination that kept millions of citizens from fully participating in American society. Sadly, a version of Jim Crow has been resurrected — but this time, his targets are the ancient Christian populations of the Middle East.
Read more in my latest column at The Washington Times.
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