Poll: Iraq & Afghan Vets Overwhelmingly Prefer G.W. Bush Over Obama as Commander-in-Chief

By Elizabeth Nelson

More than half of the 2.6 million Americans were dispatched to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan war, some of us know men and women that were deployed, sometimes more than once and came back only to struggle with physical or mental health problems stemming from their service, feel disconnected from civilian life, socially disconnected because society had an issue with the war that was being fought and believe the government is failing to meet the needs of this generation’s veterans.

Even with all of that,  according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, two-thirds would still choose Bush to be their Commander-in-Chief over Obama, whereas 42% say Obama is doing a good job.  Seriously? 42% think he's doing a "good job?" They must be on a seriously long VA mental appointment wait list.

The veterans are often frustrated with the services provided to them by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Pentagon and other government agencies. Almost 60 percent say the VA is doing an “only fair” or “poor” job in addressing the problems faced by veterans, and half say the military is lagging in its efforts to help them transition to civilian life, which has been difficult for 50 percent of those who have left active service. Overall, nearly 1.5 million of those who served in the wars believe the needs of their fellow vets are not being met by the government.

“When I raised my right hand and said, ‘I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America,’ when I gave them everything I could, I expect the same in return,” said Christopher Steavens, a former Army staff sergeant who was among 819 vets polled. 

He served in Iraq in 2003 and in Kuwait two years ago, where he was injured in a construction accident. Upon leaving the Army last summer, he filed a claim with the VA, seeking medical care and financial compensation. He has not yet received a response.

“It’s ridiculous that I’ve been waiting seven months just to be examined by a doctor — absolutely ridiculous,” he said.

“I can’t get a good job now because . . . I have to be upfront and say I have this disability, I have a tore-up back,” he said. “So now, the factories here in Topeka, where I live now, they’re like: ‘Oh, wow, he has military experience. Great. He has managerial experience. Oh, that’s good. Some college — all right. Oh, he tore his back up. Can’t do that, you know.’ ”

Again, not being able to get a good job, or a job for that matter, can be blamed on Obamanomics and his failed policies and his over regulation. Heck, we can even go back as far as Clintonomics, but trolls hate to look at history when we're trying to figure out the cause and effects of things, it's just far simpler to allow Obama to blame Bush for everything.

Johnson, who is 32 “but going on 60,” confronts the toll of his service on his drive to a just-over-minimum-wage job at Lowe’s, when he has to avoid Interstate 70 because it reminds him of Baghdad’s insurgent-riddled airport road, when he panics at the sight of trash on the street because that’s what Iraqi guerrillas employed to conceal explosives, when he pops painkillers and anti-anxiety pills, when he has to use a cane to walk or ask his fellow clerks for help moving boxes.

"I left the war zone," he said, "but the war zone never left me."

When it came to describing their most-senior commander, the vets decisively prefer George W. Bush to Obama. Only a third approve of the way Obama is handling his job, and 42 percent of them think he has been a good commander in chief despite his decisions to bring troops home from Iraq, wind down the war in Afghanistan and increase resources for veterans. By contrast, nearly two-thirds of them think Bush, who launched both wars, was a good commander in chief.

“Their views of the two presidents appear to be shaped less by political affiliation than by concern over the Obama administration’s plans to reduce the size of the military, trim benefits for future service members and curtail the purchase of some costly new weapons systems. Nearly half of vets regard themselves as political independents. Among those who identify with a party, the Republican-Democratic split is only 27 percent to 17 percent.

The vets’ political philosophy is more striking: 44 percent describe themselves as conservative, and 29 percent say they are moderates. One-fifth of them are self-described liberals. Read more WashingtonPost