Obama Cabinet and Key White House Staff
14. General Eric Shinseki, U.S. Army (Ret) (D) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Former Commander, U.S. Army in Europe
Nominated: December 7, 2008
Obama’s comments:
“Throughout his nearly four decades in the U.S. Army, [General Shinseki] won the respect and admiration of our men and women in uniform because they have always been his highest priority. He has always stood on principle—because he has always stood with our troops. And he will bring that same sense of duty and commitment to ensuring that we treat our veterans with the care and dignity they deserve.”
Others’ comments:
“Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama called Shinseki ‘a great soldier, a great leader.’
“Democratic Senator Carl Levin said that the selection ‘shows that the President-elect will welcome people who disagree with him to express those views to him.’
“Sen. Patrick Leahy praised the selection, saying, ‘throughout a stellar career, especially in his time as the Army’s Chief of Staff, [Shinseki’s] words and deeds reflected an overwhelming care about soldiers and all of our military service members.’”
Others’ comments:
“In February 2003 before the Senate Armed Services Committee, …Shinseki said he believed the Army would need “several hundred thousand soldiers’ to carry out the planned invasion of Iraq. Nothing like the lean and mean operation Rumsfeld envisioned. Subsequently, Shinseki was not nominated for the traditional second term as chief of staff and retired.”
—NewsMax.com
Approved: January 20, 2009
Sworn in: January 21, 2009
Appointment Impact/Challenges:
“Dana Priest, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who broke the story of sorry conditions for the nation’s wounded heroes at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, says she is surprised that Gen. Shinseki was chosen by President-elect Barack Obama as his Secretary of the VA.
“‘Eric Shinseki has been known as an understated, low-key leader, a quiet person, not flashy, not particularly forceful,’ Priest said. ‘He’s not someone who you would expect to shake up things right away. That is what the VA, the Veterans Administration, really needs,’ the Washington Post reporter told National Public Radio in a recent on-air interview.
“Priest went on to explain that in her opinion, the VA has plenty of money and support from the public for its mission—what it doesn’t have is some good leadership.
“‘One of the things that has been lacking is great pressure from Congress to change long standing problems in the VA and one of them is just the workforce culture and unless Shinseki can arise above his own manner of leadership’ the job may not get done, Priest explained.
“Priest conceded that in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal, the shape of the VA is better than it was a year ago.
“‘But it’s by no means where people think it is or where it needs to go,’ she qualified, pointing to an inventory of troubles:
“Regarding service members coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan who are no longer going to be serving in the military, when they make the transition to the VA: ‘There are lots of people still getting lost in the system, paperwork delays, six months to a year delays in transferring their case files and getting them where they should be in the system. The Administration likes to say that there is a seamless transition and really by no means is it seamless.
“‘There’s another issue in the National Guard and Reserve, in which vets must use smaller VA offices scattered throughout the country. These facilities aren’t able to offer the range of services that many of those guardsmen and reservists need.
“‘In the case of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, the two signature mental wounds of this war, for instance, they have not yet been able to provide the kind of hours that the people need to come to visit counselors—after work hours so that they can continue their employment—nor have they gotten the number of psychiatrists and psychologists who can offer face-to-face counseling and therapy needed for many of the returning soldiers.’”
—NewsMax.com
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