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Shinseki’s Head Has Rolled, but the 'Scandal' Playbook Is Not Good Enough for Vets

In accepting Gen. Shinseki's resignation, Obama may have closed the scandal, but the national disgrace goes on.
Photo by Adam Fagen

As I write, a most presidential performance is on display on the TV monitor hanging behind me. President Obama's head is slightly bowed, his lips are pursed his gaze stern with a hint of sorrow. His every word is delivered to a slow and steady meter. This is how to close a scandal.

On Friday, Obama announced that he would be accepting the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki over an epidemic of grave problems plaguing VA medical facilities. An investigation so far in the treatment of vets found that as many as 23 veterans have died nationwide, simply because of delays in care. After a low, dishonest, decade-plus of war, the failure to provide basic medical care to our veteran population is a national disgrace.

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And when disgraces catch a news cycle wave, there's only so many directions in which they can be carried to shore. An earnest press conference, in which a senior official, nominated scapegoat, lowers his head onto the chopping block. The president expresses "regret," the president praises a career, the president makes promises. And that great grumbling PR machine hopes that the news currents change direction.

The half-lives of scandals are shortened in proportion to the increasing pace of the news machine in which they live. Obama took to the podium for the predictable resignation performance the very same week it was revealed that in Phoenix, 1,700 vets not on waiting lists for medical care are at risk of being "lost or forgotten." The White House response was swift, and predictable — one might as well have been watching an episode of Scandal.

But "lost and forgotten" is the fate destined for scandals funneled through the White House response playbook. Shinseki's head has rolled, with due presidential honor accorded. Meanwhile, on the very same day, a grim reminder of the circumstances for scores of veterans in this country: In the Los Angeles morgue, 52 bodies of military veterans are held, unnamed and unclaimed, lost or forgotten.

At least 22 veterans kill themselves every day and no one gives a shit. Read more here.

Follow Natasha Lennard on Twitter: @natashalennard

Image via Flickr