Up to now, President Obama and congressional Democrats had thought “so-called” scandals involving Benghazi, the IRS, and Operation Fast and Furious were largely behind them. Late last week, CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on the lackluster attempts by the administration to address mismanagement issues—if not criminally negligent behavior—at the VA. What I found revealing about the interview is the exchange where Tapper questions whether Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is up to the task at hand given that Miller warned the president a year ago about serious allegations of misconduct at the agency: 
 
 Jake Tapper: How many stories like this, how many letters like this, how many dead veterans do you need before someone asks the question within the White House maybe this guy isn’t the best steward of these veterans? 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.
– 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.