Ex-Obama aide: Trump style 'quicker, more decisive'

by Paul Bedard | Jun 26, 2017, 8:25 AM

Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin is a rare bird in the Trump administration, having been a top Obama pick when he was the department's undersecretary for health through the 2016 election.

So, we asked him how things have changed under Trump, and he said it is all for the good.

"I have found that mandate from him, to get this organization fixed and the support and freedom to go out and challenge old assumptions, as exactly what the VA needs right now," Shulkin said.

"I think the organization feels more empowered to fix problems than they have in the past, and my hope is that we will be able to set the path so that the organization is earning back that trust that it needs," he added.

Shulkin, who has won kudos for his management acumen, said that the president is using a businessman's sense to fix government.

"The president very much looks at this organization like running a business. And he understands that you need to allow the manager of the business to have the freedom to go out and to challenge assumptions and to make decisions," said the secretary during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

And that's a good thing?

"Slow, incremental change isn't what this organization needs," he said. "He did not come in to make incremental change; he came in to set a fundamental different course in direction when it comes to providing services to veterans," Shulkin said. "Acting quicker and more decisively is part of that management style."

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com