SHINSEKI FIGHTS BACK – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  The secretary of veterans affairs has taken action, but has not offered his resignation.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki fought for his job Friday, apologizing to the veterans and the nation for a breach of integrity at the agency and announcing a set of reforms including the firing of senior leaders at the Phoenix medical facility.

Speaking to a friendly audience at the Coalition for Homeless Veterans, he spent most of his speech touting his accomplishments in cutting veterans homelessness by 24 percent during a tough economic time in which homelessness usually surges.

At the end of the remarks, Shinseki said he wanted to address the “elephant in the room.”

After the release of a VA inspectors general report earlier this week, he said the country now knows that the VA has systemic problems with providing care for its veterans.

“That breach of integrity is irresponsible and unacceptable to me,” he said. “Leadership and integrity problems can and must be fixed — and now.”

He then announced the firing of senior leaders at the Phoenix medical facility and the elimination of any VA bonuses for the year. He also called on Congress to pass a bill that would make it easier to fire VA employees.

COMMENT:  Look, Shinseki is personally a fine man with a distinguished military record, including being severely wounded in Vietnam.   A Japanese American, he rose to the post of Army chief of staff. 

But leadership requires full accountability, and in his present position he has clearly been unsuccessful.  Firing the underlings is appropriate, but he must at least offer his resignation.  He must take "full responsibility," to use the military phraseology, and he has not done so.

To say that problems must be fixed now is a bit much for a man who has been on the job five years.  The "now" was then. 

Shinseki is something of a darling of the left, having been the most senior military officer to raise questions about our invasion of Iraq.  He is to be commended for his integrity at risking his career for principle, and his position did probably cost him his job as chief of staff.  But each assignment is different, and just as Truman fired MacArthur over the latter's inappropriate conduct during the Korean War, Obama must now either dismiss Shinseki or at least ask him to retire honorably.  It's sad, but necessary.

May 30, 2014