[AP] Seeking to turn around a troubled agency, President Barack Obama
I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go ...
will nominate former Procter & Gamble executive Robert McDonald to lead a Veterans Affairs department gripped by reports of treatment delays and cover-ups.
An administration official said Obama planned to nominate McDonald to the Cabinet post on Monday. If confirmed by the Senate, the 61-year-old McDonald would succeed Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who resigned last month as the scope of the issues at veterans' hospitals became apparent.
McDonald's nomination signals that the president put a premium on management experience as he sought a new VA secretary. McDonald also has a military background, graduating near the top of his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and serving as a captain in the Army, primarily in the 82nd Airborne Division.
| See Bob McDonald's P&G bio here. In my opinion this is an inspired choice. The man has a military background, ran a Dow Jones Industrial Average company after making his way up from the bottom (P&G is one of those rare 'promote from within' companies), and is blazingly intelligent while lacking the need to feed his ego. Mr. Wife speaks very highly of him from personal experience. If he cannot turn around the VA, it cannot be done. |
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