‘Change is Coming’ House Parties

On November 4th, Americans voted overwhelmingly for change and a new direction. People like you made this historic victory possible, but the election was just the beginning. On December 13-14, supporters all across the country are coming together to reflect on this monumental journey and plan on how they can bring change to both Washington and their own communities. Find a “Change is Coming” house meeting in your neighborhood by entering your zip code on this webpage.

USA Today on Shinseki

“Shinseki might draw on his own experience to improve one aspect of the VA’s shortcomings,” suggests a USA Today editorial appearing this morning. “Though he’s not famous for it, Shinseki won a rare victory and remained in the active military after losing part of a foot in Vietnam. Being outspoken about how he did that can encourage the many veterans who feel they are fighting unwinnable, solitary battles.”

Editorials on Shinseki in Tues papers

Newspapers from New York City, San Jose, Seattle, Newark (N.J.) and Scripps Howard are running editorials tomorrow lauding Shinseki’s appointment.

Read more

CNN’s McIntyre disputes Shinseki record

CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre today disputes much of what brought Shinseki into the national spotlight, calling it “an appealing narrative,” but that the “facts as we know them are not nearly so complimentary to the retired Army chief.”

McIntyre asserts that Shinseki never recommended more troops for Iraq, but that “as Army chief of staff, it wasn’t really part of his job to take part in direct war planning.”

Read more

TIME: Praise for Shinseki ‘needs to be calibrated’

TIME’s Mark Thompson writes today that praise for Shinseki “needs to be calibrated.”

“While he believed that more troops were needed in post-invasion Iraq, he didn’t believe it strongly enough to lay down his four stars and resign. His supporters tend to overlook just how meek his public challenge to Rumsfeld was. He never volunteered it. Senator Carl Levin had to extract it from him, slowly and painfully, during a Senate hearing.”

Some explanation can be found in part of a profile summary on nytimes.com: “He has drawn criticism from people who thought he should have pushed his warning on Iraq more forcefully, even though as Army chief of staff he was not in the chain of command for conducting the war.”

Asked about the criticism in April 2006, Shinseki told Newsweek, “Probably that’s fair. Not my style.”

Veterans groups: Shinseki is ‘clean break’ from Bush years

GovExec.com roundup by Amy Harder includes praise for Shinseki by Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chair Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) from Shinseki’s home state, and pro-Obama veterans groups:

Read more

Huffington on Bush Darwinism

“Over the weekend, Barack Obama made an encouraging move to reverse that unintelligent design ["Bush Darwinism"] by appointing retired General Eric Shinseki to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs,” wrote Arianna Huffington today. “While having had a long and distinguished career, Shinseki is most famous for getting it right when it came to Iraq - and for suffering the consequences typical in the Bush administration for getting it right: being shown the door.”