Eric Shinseki

Reid Cherlin used to work for The Obama Administration. After the election of the new President in 2008, he worked in the Press Secretary's Office as one of its spokespeople. In a new piece for Rolling Stone magazine, he recounts his experiences from the inside. It has to be read to be believed.
So how does the VA compare? We don't know. We don't have much data publicly available to begin with, and we have virtually nothing that compares VA hospitals with other American hospitals.
Congress has both an opportunity and an imperative to plan for the future federal workforce, but to do it properly, it must revamp the system that supports it.
With all due respect to Sen. McCain, I have a different take on this. I, too, am outraged by the lack of care that many of our veterans have received, but I'm not at all bewildered by it. In fact, I saw it coming for years.
I was surprised at the number of people who are blaming the former Secretary of the VA for Congress' inability to do their job outside of partisan bickering and exchanging political favors for VA funding in their home districts.