President Barack Obama’s visit to North Carolina on Tuesday was not a campaign event, but he appeared willing to absorb the heat related to what he described as “outrageous and inexcusable” problems affecting the Veterans Administration. As the campaign trail nears November, however, neither the president’s words nor his actions are likely to shield Sen. Kay Hagan from the VA scandal and other Obama administration failures.
Obama was in Charlotte on Tuesday to speak to the American Legion’s convention about health care for veterans. It was his first speech to veterans since the scandals last spring that forced the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
Both Hagan and Sen. Richard Burr were in Charlotte to greet the president as he stepped off of Air Force One, but all eyes were on Hagan.
Labeled by political observers as one of several vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in November, Hagan is dancing cautiously around her alliance with the unpopular Obama administration. Campaign ads from her challenger, Rep. Thom Tillis, are making sure she keeps dancing by letting no one forget how often Hagan has voted with the president.
She was all smiles welcoming Obama on Tuesday, but Hagan had issued a statement days earlier saying the administration “has not yet done enough to earn the lasting trust of our veterans.”
Doing more for veterans is a tall order that Obama won’t fill before November. In addition to a $16.3 billion bill he signed earlier this month to begin removing a large backlog related to the health care needs of veterans, the president on Tuesday recited a list of promised improvements.
He pledged to: find more resources for the VA; do more to address mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder; focus more on fighting homelessness among veterans; and provide more assistance in helping veterans find work, buy homes and go to school.
Some veterans who attended the convention said the president’s words were nice to hear, but that actions would speak louder.
Expect Tillis to say that and more with regard to Hagan’s desire to keep her Senate seat. The government’s failure to provide adequate health care for veterans does not mix will for Hagan with mounting issues from the Affordable Care Act negatively impacting many voters and the health care industry.
In recent weeks, Hagan has been working to rebrand herself as the “most moderate member of the Senate” and points to bipartisan legislation she has proposed, including bills designed to do more for veterans.
Most of those bills have been unsuccessful, which she blames on unrelated amendments that were attached.
In football terms, Hagan is facing third down and long yardage. Pointing to gridlock, faking right and handing the ball to Obama is not the play she needs.
