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Opening of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence
Opening of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence
06-23-2010 10:00 PM As Delivered by Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn, III, Bethesda, Maryland, Thursday, June 24, 2010 More... |
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Where were the brass at the VA trauma center opening?
posted at 3:35 pm on July 19, 2010 by Ed Morrissey The Obama administration made a lot of promises to veterans about improving post-service care and cleaning up the problems associated with VA hospitals, and politicians of both parties make a lot of noise about supporting the wounded warriors. While a private group raised $65 million and opened a new Center of Excellence for traumatic brain injury — based on a bipartisan effort started in 2007 — few top officials from either party or the military attended the ceremony that completed the bequest to the Veterans Administration. Leslie Gelb wonders why: It was inauguration day for the nation’s most modern facility for the treatment of active-duty soldiers and veterans suffering from brain injuries and psychological disorders—5,000 of them with families on hand. At the podium in Bethesda, Maryland, stood Arnold Fisher, the chief fundraiser for this precious center that may need to care for hundreds of thousands of victims, searching in vain for one White House official, one Cabinet officer, one member of the Joint Chiefs, one senator. He found none. And he asked again and again, “Where are they?”Actually, the truancies extended to the media as well. Gelb notes that only Rachel Maddow gave any television attention to the opening and Fisher’s complaint about the lack of official attention. It seems that no one wanted to cover the good news, and in fact it mainly went unnoticed. Why would that be? In 2007, of course, the military actions overseas were a lot more controversial, and both parties jockeyed for political positioning on both the wars and their aftermaths for veterans. Democrats and Republicans alike wanted to be seen as supportive of veterans (and, in fact, both parties have been over the last several years), to some extent as a proxy for arguing over the war. In 2010, that political battle has mainly ended as a Democratic President ramps up the fighting in Afghanistan and maintains the withdrawal schedule set by George W. Bush for Iraq. And with the fading of that debate, the issue of veterans’ treatment also seems to have faded in importance for those within Washington DC. Give Gelb an attaboy for pointing this out — and Maddow as well. The absence of Shinseki is the most egregious, but there’s plenty of blame left over for the Obama administration, other military officials, and Republicans on the Hill, too. This kind of good news, showing that the private sector approach to raising the funds necessary for treating the long-lasting effects of combat can make a big impact, should have gotten a lot more attention from everyone involved. Update: Apparently, John McCain made it to this event as well. He was on Don Imus’ show broadcast live from the center that morning. http://hotair.com/archives/2010/07/1...enter-opening/
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