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December 7th, 2008
Shinseki picked to head Department of Veteran Affairs
Posted by abenamerStraight from Politico:
CHICAGO — Retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki will be named as Barack Obama’s Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Sunday afternoon in Chicago.
The surprise pick adds yet another heavyweight to the Obama cabinet, and also takes a not-so-subtle slap at President Bush’s original national security team.
Shinseki served as Chief of Staff of the Army and retired a four-star general in 2003. Like Obama a native of Hawaii, Shinseki served two combat tours in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Shinseki, who is of Japanese ancestry, becomes the first Asian-American [sic] in the new Cabinet.
Well, there you go. One of the earliest major voices against the war gets a cabinet position of great importance in dealing with our veterans as they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Those of you who have been impatient for a real Cabinet position for an Asian American have finally been listened to by Obama. Unlike Elaine Chao’s position at Department of Labor, I seriously doubt Obama will denigrate Shinseki’s new role the way Bush routinely used Elaine Chao to hobble the Department of Labor’s oversight role over labor relations.
Obama in an MSNBC segment from Meet the Press tomorrow took some time to discuss Shinseki’s status as a fellow Hawaiian as well:
What’s interesting is that Obama points out that it’s a day of remembrance tomorrow for the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. It’s an interesting turn of events when a Japanese American is asked to run the very department that takes care of American soldiers during an event that commemorates the World War II conflict with Japan. Japanese Americans, you’ve come a long way, baby!
This should also help to quiet the ridiculous assertions by some of the critics on this blog that we should somehow start to band together against a President-elect who hasn’t passed a secret Asian American litmus test. Let’s hope that our fellow Asian Americans won’t be stupid and try to start a campaign against Obama’ secret anti-Asian agenda.
Posted in Transition |
December 7th, 2008 at 2:56 am
[...] Vietnam Veterans of America today described President-elect Obama’s selection of Gen. Eric Shinseki as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs a “promising choice” citing [...]
December 7th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Well said, Allan. Thanks for this great post!