Posted on 05/29/2014 11:34:09 AM PDT by jazusamo
The White House offered tepid support on Thursday for embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, skirting questions on whether he’ll soon be fired.
White House press secretary Jay Carney repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether Shinseki retained the confidence of the president.
Carney said the president believed Shinseki had “performed overall well” and “put his heart and soul” into providing care for veterans. But he also emphasized that the president was waiting to see the results of an internal investigation led by White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors.
“When it comes to the current situation, the inquiries and the investigations and some of the allegations, the president wants to see the results of these reports,” Carney said. “And he, as you know, made clear that he believes there ought to be accountability once we establish all the facts.”
The White House knew Carney’s briefing would be dominated by questions surrounding Shinseki, who many observers think will be gone from the Veterans Affairs Department by the end of the week.
Eight Democratic senators have called for his head, and the number has been quickly growing.
A number of Republicans have also dropped their support for Shinseki, though Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday again did not call for his resignation.
Calls for Shinseki to resign grew after a VA inspector general’s interim report found systematic mismanagement within the department.
According to the preliminary IG report released Wednesday, a Phoenix-area veterans clinic claimed veterans waited just 24 days for care, when in fact they were kept from booking a primary care appointment an average of 115 days. Some 1,700 veterans were put on an unofficial wait list by managers at the facility.
Carney said Obama expects a preliminary report on the VA's internal investigation “very soon” — and likely by the end of this week.
But Carney said that the president's main focus was “getting to the root of the problem and determining the full scope of the problem, so we can get most importantly the veterans the care they need and deserve.”
“The president's focused first and foremost on the need to address the problems that have impeded the quality and speed of care,” Carney said.
In an op-ed published Thursday, Shinseki said the findings of the IG report were "reprehensible" and that he was scrambling resources to help veterans at a Phoenix hospital at the center of the controversy.
He also pledged to punish those responsible for misconduct.
“After 38 years in the Army, I am honored and privileged to serve veterans as the secretary of Veterans Affairs, and I remain committed to providing the high-quality care and benefits that veterans have earned and deserve. And we will,” he wrote.
The Boehner-funded, Commander in Chief Obama’s latest Grand Bargain is assign the US Military to mercilessly attack the Settled Science of the Climate Change Weapon of Mass Destruction.
This Grand Bargain Announcement by Commander in Chief Obama was greeted by the 2014 Graduation Class at West Point with a 25 % standing ovation.
IOW, a future 75 % reduction in force of the newly commissioned Army officers from West Point.
Over the years, Doormat Republican Speaker Boehner has been able to fund all of the Democrats’ Commander in Chief Obama’s Military decisions.
Speaker Boehner has thus been essential to helping Obama to lead from the bottom of a Socialist, Group Hug, Hell Hole.
Speaker Boehner should indeed be in line for a promotion by Arrogant Commander in Chief Obama.
Over the years, Boehner has doubled the taxpayer dollars sent to the failed Veterans Administration.
The rumor that a grateful, but still Arrogant, Obama is considering promoting Boehner to be in charge of the Veterans Administration has yet to be confirmed.
Answer: He's waiting for an appointment with Obama
Wouldn’t surprise me at all.
I am surprised that 0bama hasn’t fired the IG that made the report on the VA, that’s 0bama’s way of handling them if he doesn’t agree with IG findings.
Boehner should be screaming for Shinseki’s firing.
results of an internal investigation led by White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors
In February 2010 Nabors, became senior advisor to then-White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel
White House deputy chief of staff (Rob Nabors) told Durbin, others about erroneous rude GOP comment
unidentified senior House Republican leader during negotiations over the debt ceiling and partial government shutdown told President Obama, “I cannot even stand to look at you,” made its way from the White House to the Senate via White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors, sources tell CNN.
“While the quote attributed to a Republican lawmaker in the House GOP meeting with the President is not accurate, there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding.”
White House officials would not comment on whether Nabors misunderstood what Sessions said, or whether he just communicated the story to Senate Democrats in a less than optimal way. Nabors could not be reached for comment.
Does Eric golf?
Drink beer?
Smoke cigarettes?
He ain’t letting’ him go.. Yet!
I suppose Shinseki should go, but the real problem is a corrupt, stale, union-dominated bureaucracy that views its survival and the perks of its members as more important than running a good operation to benefit veterans. There need to be firings (almost impossible at a unionized government bureaucracy) and prosecutions for malfeasance, with real penalties—like clawed back bonuses or diminished pensions, and the threat of jail time.
Nabors is definitely no mental giant.
Agreed...Lets start at the top and work down, many heads should roll.
Wouldn't solve a damned thing.
The problem at VA is the same with ALL government agencies.....unions. They are so deeply implanted, for such a long time, that virtually every activity is heavily effected by 'The Union Label'.
You can change the figurehead weekly, and it will only get worse.
For instance, Fox recently reported that a fired NYC air controller had gotten his job back, courtesy of NATCA. He screwed up, and 9 people died in a mid-air. They reported that at least 12 fired controllers, involved in the deaths of at least 59 people, had all been reinstated, thanks to union contracts. And unions have been in place at VA far longer than NATCA has existed.
Until the unions are stripped of their power to defend the indefensible, nothing will change.
And what do you think the odds of that EVER happening are?
Obama can't avoid the heat of the ongoing and ever-multiplying VA scandal, but he can avoid the heat and pressure focusing on the General's continued employment by cutting the cord this week.
Shinseki is now on Death Watch, unless he falls on his OWN sword before the weekend is over.
Leni
That is exactly right. Public employees unions should not exist.
It will happen when the economy collapses very badly, which is on the menu sooner or later. Or some other kind of collapse.
That snake slithered back again. I hadn’t seen him anywhere in a while.....he gives me the creeps. Something really weird about him. It isn’t the numerous lies that he says, it is something else...unexplainable. I would not let my children (boys 16, 14, 12 or my daughter 6) alone in a room.....EVER.
You’re correct...I stated above that many heads should roll and the unions should be included. It won’t happen but their powers need to be cut way back.
The last time I saw Barack smile like that, him & Reggie were leaving the gym shower.
I did notice one thing missing from Rob Nabors wiki profile...
Wait until Obama finds out about this. Nobody’s madder than him, I tell ya!
Obama has done no better overall in the Oval Office than Shenseki has done at the VA. Incompetence and neglect happening in lower management is almost always traced back to lack of oversight or incompetence in the upper management in business. The situation is analogous to the Oval Office. Obama should demand his own resignation.
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