Here is candidate Barack Obama in August 2007, in a campaign speech to veterans that specifically addressed wait lists, denial of care, and poor treatment at VA hospitals:
No veteran should have to fill out a 23-page claim to get care, or wait months — even years — to get an appointment at the VA.
When we fail to keep faith with our veterans, the bond between our nation and our nation’s heroes becomes frayed. When a veteran is denied care, we are all dishonored.
He went on to pledge that his administration would be different.
Which is another way of saying, as Jeff Dunetz did in a separate post this morning, that Obama knew when he was elected in November 2008 that the Veterans Administration was failing its charges.
And what of his pledge? It may have been the emptiest of rhetoric, but today he set out to top himself, declaring that he is “madder than hell” over the VA abuses.
Not even his supporters on the left are willing to swallow his insincere gesture. Drew Griffin, Senior Investigative Correspondent for CNN, said in an interview today that Obama’s anger seems “rather hollow” and that “he should be mad at himself.”
The video follows.
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