Proctor & Gamble’s Bob MacDonald to be nominated for VA job
Chief Tango sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports that the former CEO of Proctor & Gamble and West Point graduate, Bob McDonald, will be President Obama’s nominee to fill the Secretary’s chair at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs;
The unorthodox pick of a retired corporate executive whose former company produces iconic household products such as Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper — rather than a former military general — underscores the serious management problems facing the agency charged with serving more than 8 million veterans a year. On Friday, White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors submitted a report to the president finding “significant and chronic system failures” and a “corrosive culture” at the Veterans Health Administration, which has come under fire for skewed record-keeping in an effort to cover up the long waits it has imposed on former soldiers seeking medical care.
In recent years, the job of VA secretary has been filled by retired generals, medical professionals or politicians. McDonald’s background is a significant departure, though he and his wife have deep family ties to the military. McDonald graduated in the top 2 percent of his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and served in the Army for five years, achieving the rank of captain in the 82nd Airborne Division before taking an entry-level job at P&G.
Well, he can’t do any worse than the last guy, I’m sure. From everything that I’ve read about him, he fundamentally changed P&G and dragged it into the 21st century. If the Senate will give him the tools, maybe he can do the same thing for the VA. We’ll see, I guess.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
Best of luck.
It’s going to take more than one secretary to fix a malignant tumor known as the VA, full of corruption and cronies.
Wouldn’t be surprised to read of yet more horror stories of back logs and poor treatment of veterans come a few years from now.
Like Groundhog Day.
VA should be disbanded. Veterans are good enough for the private sector care everyone else uses.
Maybe the gross negligence might be lowered, but the problems of it being government ran will forever exist and be inferior.
I’m available. I got nuttin’ else. Really.
sincerely
John “Faker 6” Giduck
He can’t do any worse than the last guy, provided he’s allowed to shake the tree and let all the nuts fall out.
If he’s not allowed to get rid of some of the useless bastards, I don’t care who’s at the top, they’re going to fail.
He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. At West Point he served as the Brigade—Adjutant for the Corps of Cadets and was awarded the Silver Medal from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce. After graduation, he served as a Captain in the U.S. Army for 5 years, primarily in the 82nd Airborne Division, and earned an MBA from the University of Utah in 1978. Upon leaving the military he received the Meritorious Service Med BIG FUCKING DEAL,he is no way in touch with what our warriors need today,he was a part time soldier,we need a real warrior to like MadDog,or they should just dump the whole VA.
5 and out does not quite make him a part time Soldier.
as much as i would like Mattis in many positions i think the VA needs a manager not a warrior and McDonald is a hell of a manager.
he also gets credit for going to USMA in 1971 when most people would not touch the military.
No, what they need is someone who can manage a large organization and trim off the dead weight. I could care less if it’s a civilian or not as long as they can get the job done.
Personally though, I think the VA hospitals should be focused down on what they do to helping the worst wounded and those who need special help, the rest of the military who uses the VA should have regular insurance policies paid for by the government where they can go to any hospital they want for service.
Jarhead,
What part of “bringing Proctor & Gamble into the 21st Century” did you not get? You cannot possibly be so naive to think that just because he didn’t do 20, he doesn’t get how to run a business successfully or not think he can turn it around. I personally believe he deserves a shot- Clearly, every other General did jack shit. Get over it and get behind it.
I have heard this guys name come up several times in the past as a possible replacement for Shinsucki, even before he “resigned”.
The VA from the inside looking out, does not have to have another 20 year 4 star politician.
What it needs is someone who will treat this place like a business and make it run like one. One that fulfills its mission to provide excellent and timely care to our Nations Veterans.
you do not need to be a Veteran to do that, you just have to have the balls to kick the inbred bureaucracy that inhabits the VA. He needs to be given the power to clean out the dead weight, to eliminate the screw up and move up mentality… if you don’t know what that is, it is because it is easier to give a shitty employee a good recommendation for a promotion out of your hair than it is to fire them. (Lot of that happening)
Anyhow, I have no idea if he will be given the lee way he needs, or how beholden he will be to being a political appointee over his assigned duties. I am willing to give him a chance.
Of ALL of the Obama nominations, this one is the only one that to me has any glimmer of a hope of actually doing something positive.
Graduates of the academies are a dime a dozen at P&G. Was CEO, relived and then CEO again. Not saying that is bad, but it makes one wonder when the president of Cleveland Clinic turned down the position.
Maybe the doc was the smart one. Would you want to be in charge of that shithole called the VA?
I think it a smart step. The last thing we need in the job is another cock-smoking retired General officer.
Prior service military isn’t really whats needed. Thet need someone that has spent time being held accountable for a payroll and a product.
The VA should be ran like a business. If you dont provide the service and satiy the customers your ass needs to go.
Obama, you’re screwing with our heads right? The largest health care system in America is in deep doo-doo and you can’t find a major health care executive with years of experience managing a large health care program to unscrew the screwed up mess that is our Veterans Administration?
What MacDonald is going to be rudely introduced to is a federal system where inefficient employees are going to hang around his neck for their entire lives. At P&G he could hire and fire at will; in this mare’s nest we call the VA, he’s going to find an entirely different system.
Hey, Obozo, how many retired military surgeons general do we have out there to pick from? At least they understand the mission of delivering care to those who have served.
It could be all those health care executives told Obama to fuck off. I wouldn’t blame them for not wanting to touch that mess.
I could think of half a dozen other people better fitted to the job of turning the ship of the VA around. He wasn’t on my list. Another Obama glad handing to a corporate type with no federal work experience. His time in the military will not even resemble what he will face when dealing with unionized, “civil servants”. Boy is he going to have a rude awakening. My money says, he lasts maybe a year. Then he will find, “personal reasons” to have to resign. He will only give Obama the news Obama asks for. If Obama wants someone’s opinion…he gives it to them. Then, and only then can they release it to the press. That way, Obama has an out if things go south, as they usually do with his plans, policies and practices and then he throws, so and so under the bus. Never have we had a president, who claimed to do so much, actually did so little, and never, ever made a mistake in his whole term(s).
I would argue the civil servants are the problem, and until you can get rid of the Government Unions… nobody will be successful.
I do agree with your timeline – it is amazing how much the Unions will stop anything… And this guy will clearly see a losing battle pretty quick.
An Obama nominee for any postion is immediately suspect. I get that. It seems, in this instance, however, that the this nominee is not another fellow traveler or stooge. I like the pick. McDonald is a winner and his accomplishments are many. He never took the easy way, either in his five years of service or his impressive civilian career. He is the right pick at this point and will get all of the Congressional support he needs to straighten the VA out as best he can.
I’ll withhold judgement. Although the initial indications about the guy are good, I’d really prefer that he had also some experience as a disabled vet actually USING some parts of the VA system. (I suspect that info would have made the press by now were that the case.)
I disagree that we necessarily need a retired GO or a medical professional running the VA. The problems at the VA aren’t simply medical ones, and they’re not a lack of resources. The problems are poor management, poor priorities, and poor organizational culture. Fixing those doesn’t require either a uniform or a white coat.
The man’s industry background may serve hims better than you think. In private industry, he had to be quite cognizant of labor relations. That experience may serve him well when he butts heads with (which he will) the AFGE and/or other Federal employee unions at the VA. IMO, most retired GOs don’t have a clue about labor relations; they expect immediate, unquestioning obedience. This guy won’t.
Let’s see how it goes, and how long he lasts. If he’s still in office in Jan 2017 and is retained by the next POTUS, IMO that means he’s probably the right guy.
I sincerely with the guy the best – he is about to undertake a mission that may prove to be beyond his (or anyone else) ability to fix.
At least it’s not the status quo. Hope they give him the tools to do the job, like firing those who are corrupt or can’t do their job.