Obama said he selected Shinseki for the VA post because he “was right” in predicting that the US would need more troops in Iraq than Rumsfeld believed at the time.
Shinseki, 66, is to take the helm of the government’s second-largest agency, which has been roundly criticized during the Bush administration for underestimating the amount of funding needed to treat thousands of injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thousands of veterans currently endure six-month waits for disability benefits, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays. The department is also scrambling to upgrade government technology systems before new legislation providing millions of dollars in new GI benefits takes effect next August.
Obama’s choice of Shinseki shows he is making good on his pledge to have a diverse Cabinet.
In Obama’s eight Cabinet announcements so far, white men are the minority with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert Gates at Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, Susan Rice as UN ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. Eric Holder at the Justice Department is African American, while Bill Richardson at Commerce is Latino.
Also See: Obama faces China’s challenge
RSS