Obama Embraces Disabled Veterans, Then Picks Their Pockets

The Obama Administration has a burgeoning honesty problem. Rather than debate his socialist power grab or any of his other insane policy decisions in an open and honest fashion, he pursues an agenda that is in diametrical opposition to the words spewing forth from his lips.

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Though we got a glimpse of this deficiency of honesty during his campaign, it is now creeping into more and more of his policy decision-making. He says one thing yet means another.

• We heard about a new era of responsibility.
• We heard about a new era of bipartisanship, the highest ethics ever; that the Obama Administration would employ no lobbyists.
• We heard that Tim Geithner was uniquely qualified to fix the financial mess; that he was the man with the plan.
• We heard that Obama's budget was fiscally responsible.
• We heard that earmark reform was an important element of the Obama agenda.

But as we now know, Mr. Obama has been playing fast and loose with the truth. The Obama administration assigns blame to others for what is now clearly his economy. Bipartisanship is dead. Tim Geithner is an amateur that fails to inspire confidence in anyone. Obama's budget could leave us at risk of deflation and he signed off on a budget that contained nearly 9,000 earmarks. This growing lack of honesty has already led to a crisis. A crisis of confidence in Barack Obama that is affecting not just average people, but American military veterans from all walks of life. If that crisis of confidence continues to spread, it could render all of our military forces far more susceptible to battlefield breakdowns, which would be catastrophic. Yet many of his military policies appear to be leading precisely in that direction. The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is still on the table and has already had a noticeable effect on recruiting, retention and morale. Those who have never served in cramped quarters for long periods of time in isolation such as exist on Navy ships should not be trusted to make such decisions under any circumstances. Large percentages of veterans said they would not re-enlist if Obama repealed the compromise. Still larger percentages of veterans said that they lack confidence in Obama as Commander-In-Chief. They just don't trust him. The U.S. military does not need Barack Obama's forced equality, individuals advance up the ranks on merit. There are plenty of women and minorities that serve as officers and the military's track record is excellent on this score. Yet, Obama's desire for social experimentation overlooks or ignores this reality. While claiming to be someone who understands how to use technology to improve productivity, efficiency, safety and standards of living, Obama will soon be putting more men in harms way with fewer technological tools to do their jobs. Although he still refuses to be specific, Obama is also set to cut billions from advanced weapons programs that represent years of research, hundreds of thousands of jobs and the next generation of military weaponry. But Obama's biggest military policy failure to date is a little discussed plan to make veterans who suffer from service-connected disabilities pay for their own health care. Yes, that's right. Under this policy, those of us who sacrificed so much for our country would be required to pay our own medical bills. And since the Administration will neither confirm nor deny their intent to make us pay, the usual aura of confusion that surrounds every controversial decision by Obama also surrounds this one. As I wrote back in August of 2008, an entire generation of veteran retirees have already been screwed out of their health care, so the government's track record for keeping its promises sucks, quite frankly. Those of us who swear the oath, put on the uniform and defend or country don't do so for the money or health care. We do so because we love our country. We ask that if we are lost, missing or wounded, our country do its damnedest to get us home safely and if that fails, just get us home. Those of us who have spilled our blood, lost our sight or our limbs don't want charity. Nothing has been given to us, we fought for it. We earned it. Most of us were forced out of careers we loved and went through years of rehabilitation and retraining just to be able to return to productive lives. And now, even that is at risk of being socially engineered out of existence. Thankfully, members of Congress who would approve of any such legislation have signaled that this idea is dead on arrival. That's certainly a start, but it doesn't go nearly far enough. The fact that this Obamanation is even being considered is a slap in the face to every living veteran with a service-connected disability. It makes Obama's hollow proclamations of respect for us nothing more than lip service. Disabled veterans have paid enough.