That Awkward Moment When Obama Claimed to Care About Veterans

A stroll down Campaign Memory Lane

05.20.2014 | News | Matt Fox |

Ouch, now there’s a painful one. Up above, we have Barack Obama speaking from a speech dated May 12th, 2008, in Charleston, West Virginia. Back in those days, actually getting elected to the presidency of the United States was still a bit of a pipe dream for Little Barry, so he’d say just about anything to anyone in order to shore up some votes. No group was beyond pandering to. But now we know that it was all just words.

“The true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they’ve served us,” said Obama in just one section of his long promise to our veterans…which would ultimately go unfulfilled.

“How can we let this happen? How is that acceptable in the United States of America? The answer is, it’s not. It’s an outrage. And it’s a betrayal – a betrayal – of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for,” he added, as he railed against “deplorable conditions” at VA hospitals and poor care for military men and women that resulted in deaths.

But where is Dear Leader now?

Where is he, as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs under his watch has brought about secret wait lists and unnecessary, preventable deaths?

To date, all we’ve heard from Obama specifically on the current scandal is that he learned about it on the news (according to Press Secretary Jay Carney), and that he’s supposedly “madder than hell” about it (according to Chief of Staff Denis McDonough). Thank God he’s “madder than hell,” too, because General Shinseki claimed last week to merely be “MAD as hell,” and he didn’t seem too animated to me. I’m looking forward to finding out what “madder” looks like.

Here’s an idea: instead of dispatching your flacks to do damage control for you, why not come out of hiding and speak to the American people, Mr. President? You’re always more than happy to weigh in on every issue under the sun, unless the story of the day is regarding one of your many scandals. If the only news item of note right now was the story about Beyonce’s sister beating up Jay-Z in the elevator, you’d probably hold a press conference. Yet, here you are, in the face of the absolute worst flavor of hypocrisy…and there’s not a peep to be heard.

Come out, come out wherever you are. I guess when you’ve already run your last campaign, there’s no real urgency to anything anymore. Even when the issue at hand is the lives of our military. Good on ya, Barack.

Matt Fox

Senior Editor

Fox has history in broadcasting that spans two decades. From his early days as an FM host and club DJ in the mid-90′s to his later experiences in political talk radio, he has always had a knack for combining topical news with his love for popular culture. Those experiences culminated in his position as executive producer for several radio shows featured in the TALKERS Heavy 100. Originally from New York, Fox has made the great pilgrimage down to sunny south Florida.

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