Finally, an authentic scandal: incompetence and deception at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Given what we know so far, more heads need to roll — and a criminal investigation should be launched. 
 
 Republicans have accused the Obama administration of so many faux scandals that it’s hard to recognize the real thing. Yes, the Internal Revenue Service seems to have given extra scrutiny to conservative organizations, but it gave extra scrutiny to liberal groups, too. Yes, Operation “Fast and Furious” was a mistake, but it wasn’t some kind of sinister plot. No, it doesn’t matter whether the evil people who took four American lives in Benghazi , Libya, are called terrorists, militants or simply killers. 
 
 Eugene Robinson writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture, contributes to the PostPartisan blog, and hosts a weekly online chat with readers. In a three-decade career at The Post, Robinson has been city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor in charge of the paper’s Style section. View Archive 
 
 The VA situation, however, looks more serious day by day. If VA hospitals really are falsifying records to disguise lengthy waiting times — and if veterans are dying as a consequence — then President Obama needs to bring in new management to fix the problems and fast. 
 
 White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, speaking Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” described Obama as “madder than hell” about the VA scandal. By now, we should all be used to the fact that Obama is never what you would call demonstrative with his anger, at least publicly. No frothing, no foaming, no gnashing of teeth. I take McDonough at his word that the president is royally steamed. 
 
 We also should be used to the fact that Obama is extremely loyal to the members of his team. Despite the disastrous launch of the HealthCare.gov Web site, the president declined to dismiss Kathleen Sebelius as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, allowing her eventually to leave on her own terms. 
 
 1 of 12 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Will 2014 be the year of progressives? View Photos Post columnists E.J. Dionne and Katrina vanden Heuvel explain why the left should look forward to this year. Caption Post columnists E.J. Dionne and Katrina vanden Heuvel explain why the left should look forward to this year. For progressives, a positive year ahead “The reemergence of a Democratic left will be one of the major stories of 2014,” says Post columnist E.J. Dionne . “The widespread predictions that 2014 will witness only more of the same,” adds fellow columnist Katrina vanden Heuvel , “ignore the growing reality that, outside the Beltway, people are beginning to stir and change is in the air.” Jose Luis Magana/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 I don’t see how he can take a similar path, however, with Gen. Eric K. Shinseki at the VA. Sebelius at least made it clear that she understood the magnitude of the problem her department faced. Shinseki thus far has failed to telegraph comprehension, much less inspire confidence. 
 
 “Any allegation, any adverse incident like this makes me mad as hell,” Shinseki told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee last week. I doubt there has ever been a four-star general who didn’t know how to get angry, but Shinseki’s ire had to be drawn out of him. If he was seething inside, he hid it well. 
 
 Perhaps that’s unfair; perhaps he should be evaluated only on his performance at work, not on whether he emotes before the television cameras. “This is not a job,” he said at the hearing. “I’m here to accomplish a mission I think [veterans] critically deserve and need, and I can tell you over the past five years we’ve done a lot to make things better.” 
 
 The all-too-obvious rejoinder is: Not enough. 
 
 The allegation that VA officials in Phoenix cooked the books to cover up the fact that veterans had to suffer unacceptably long waiting times before they received care — and that 40 veterans died while enduring such delays — is shocking in isolation. But if reports are true that there may have been similar practices in Albuquerque and perhaps in other cities, the problems begin to look systemic. 
 
 Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said there is “solid evidence” of “a pattern, apparently, of manipulating lists, gaming the system . . . which is not just an impropriety or misconduct, it is potentially a criminal act.” 
 
 The VA’s Office of Inspector General is on the case, Shinseki told senators. But I agree with Blumenthal’s assessment that it’s time to bring in some outside help, such as the FBI, and that the investigation needs to ascertain not just whether rules were broken but whether crimes were committed. 
 
 Shinseki inherited an agency ill-equipped to cope with the tsunamis that were about to overwhelm it: the return of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and the rapidly growing medical needs of Vietnam veterans now entering their later years. 
 
 It is important to keep the VA scandal in context. Conservatives who crow that this shows government cannot competently provide health care are wrong. VA hospitals see more than 200,000 veterans a day and rank among the highest in the nation in customer satisfaction, according to surveys. 
 
 At issue is how long veterans have to wait before they can receive that care — and whether employees are lying about those waiting times, with the result that people are dying. 
 
 The solemn promises we make to our veterans cannot be broken. There’s no need for histrionics from President Obama. But he does need to clean house. 
 
 Read more from Eugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A. ||||| President Obama, breaking his silence on the Veterans Affairs scandal, outlined steps Wednesday to "fix whatever is wrong" at the agency -- while stopping short of heeding calls to sack VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. 
 
 The president described Shinseki as a "great soldier" who has "put his heart and soul into this thing." 
 
 At the same time, Obama is bringing in the White House deputy chief of staff, Rob Nabors, to oversee a broader review. He dispatched Nabors on Wednesday to Phoenix, where allegations of patient deaths tied to delayed care first surfaced. 
 
 "We've got to do better," Obama conceded, while indicating he wants to wait for the conclusion of internal probes before addressing whether any more top officials should resign. 
 
 "When I hear allegations of misconduct ... I will not stand for it," Obama said. "None of us should." 
 
 He added: "If these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful and I will not tolerate it -- period." 
 
 Obama then followed up with a list of what he claimed are his administration's accomplishments in taking care of vets and their families. 
 
 Leading Republicans swiftly criticized the president's long-awaited remarks as missing the mark. 
 
 Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said "it's time for serious action and accountability." 
 
 Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., himself a veteran and former prisoner of war, called Obama's statements "wholly insufficient in addressing the fundamental, systemic problems plaguing our veterans' health care system." 
 
 The president had faced criticism for staying silent as allegations mounted that veterans died while waiting for care, and VA workers misrepresented treatment information -- and for rebuffing calls for the secretary to resign. 
 
 But the controversy is expanding. Before his public remarks, Obama met with Shinseki Wednesday morning along with Nabors in the Oval Office. And a source confirmed to Fox News that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was heading to Capitol Hill Wednesday to consult with the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. 
 
 The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General's Office also said late Tuesday that 26 facilities are now being investigated nationwide over allegations of manipulated waiting times and other issues. 
 
 The development comes as the House of Representatives easily approved a bill Wednesday that would give the VA secretary greater authority to fire or demote senior executives. The vote was 390 to 33. 
 
 Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, sponsored the measure, saying VA officials who have presided over mismanagement or negligence are more likely to receive bonuses or glowing performance reviews than any sort of punishment. 
 
 The VA's "widespread and systemic lack of accountability is exacerbating all of its most pressing problems," including revelations that the department maintained secret waiting lists to cover up long delays in patient appointments and a mounting toll of preventable deaths of veterans, Miller said. 
 
 Miller accused the VA of a "well-documented reluctance to ensure its leaders are held accountable for mistakes" and said Congress has an obligation to "give the VA secretary the authority he needs to fix things. That's what my bill would do." 
 
 The controversy erupted in Phoenix last month after allegations of delayed care that may have led to patient deaths and a cover-up by top administrators. 
 
 A former clinic director said that as many as 40 veterans may have died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix hospital and that staff, at the instruction of administrators, kept a secret list of patients waiting for appointments to hide delays in care. 
 
 Investigators probing the claims say they have so far not linked any patient deaths in Phoenix to delayed care. 
 
 The current director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, Sharon Helman, has been placed on leave indefinitely while the VA's inspector general investigates the claims raised by several former VA employees. 
 
 Meanwhile, two Republican senators introduced legislation to prohibit payment of bonuses to employees at the Veterans Health Administration through next year. Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Deb Fischer of Nebraska said the VA should focus its spending on fixing problems at the agency, "not rewarding employees entrenched in a failing bureaucracy." Burr is the senior Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and Fischer is on the Senate Armed Services Committee. 
 
 The House passed a bill in February that would eliminate performance bonuses for the department's senior executive staff through 2018. 
 
 Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, also called on Obama to back off plans to nominate Jeffrey Murawsky to replace the VA's undersecretary for health care, Robert Petzel, who has stepped down. Murawsky, a career VA administrator, directly supervised Helman from 2010 to 2012. 
 
 The White House has said Obama remains confident in Shinseki's leadership and is standing behind Murawsky's nomination. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report.
– Columnists on both the right and left are fuming about reports of secret Veterans Affairs hospital delays said to have resulted in 40 deaths. Both Ron Christie and Eugene Robinson note that while issues like Benghazi and IRS targeting may have been "witch hunts," this is a genuine scandal, and President Obama needs to take action. Writing at the Daily Beast, Christie points to a year-old letter from the House VA committee chair warning Obama of the problem. If the president is "madder than hell" over the crisis, as his chief of staff says he is, then why aren't we seeing that anger? Robinson, writing in the Washington Post, believes the president is privately angry—after all, he rarely shows anger publicly. But Robinson also believes that "more heads need to roll—and a criminal investigation should be launched." Obama may be a loyal boss, but VA head Gen. Eric Shinseki hasn't even shown real "comprehension" of the issue, and it may be time for him to go. Meanwhile, officials need "outside help, such as the FBI," to take a look at the situation and determine "not just whether rules were broken, but whether crimes were committed." Click for Robinson's full piece; Christie's is here.