Want to bring the country together as one? Want to get past all the partisan sniping going on in Washington? Want to find a way, any way, to make Democrats and Republicans hold hands, hug, and agree for once? Then do what Robert McDonald, chief of Veterans Affairs, did: make a complete ass of yourself.
At a breakfast this week in Washington, Secretary McDonald told reporters that Disneyland doesn't track how long visitors wait in line at its theme parks, so why should the VA?
"When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what's important?" he asked/fumed/fumbled. "What's important is, what's your satisfaction with the experience?"
First, Disney apparently does collect and analyze wait times. So the secretary of Veterans Affairs doesn't even have his facts right.
Second, what the heck?
Waiting for a seat to go on Splash Mountain is one thing. A veteran waiting for an operation is another. And given all the problems the VA has had of late, you'd think the chief of the outfit would be a little more sensitive. Not only have veterans had to wait for care--and wait and wait and wait, and sometimes die waiting--a couple years ago a scandal exploded nationally when it was found that employees at the VA had doctored wait times to make them look better. One VA secretary has already lost his job over the matter.
If it wasn't enough that Robert McDonald spoke, he compounded the problem by not shutting up. You might call what he said next impolitic. You'd definitely have to call it stunning.
He said wait times are "really not what we should be measuring." Instead, he said, the VA should measure satisfaction.
"We have a very large health-care system. I don't want to create more measures that are irrelevant." And, he added: "You would have a veteran who waits two days and one who waits eight days," but the one who waited longer might feel he received better care.
If he lives to his appointment.
Democrats, Republicans, both and neither, have expressed disbelief in this man's comments, especially given his mickey mouse operation. But maybe Robert McDonald will say the right thing soon enough. It starts like this: "Mr. President, in light of my comments last week, and the firestorm they created, I tender my resignation . . . ."
Editorial on 05/26/2016