1115.org

Some perfectly good stuff has been crowded out of the news cycle by the ongoing Buttercheeks saga. My nomination for the best story in the also-ran category is the Dole-Shalala “Wounded Warriors” presidential commission. Mr. Dole and Ms. Shalala were charged with figuring out how to improve the woefully inadequate systems we have for providing “health-care” to wounded service members and veterans.

As you might suspect, presidential commissions are instigated by the President. Our hope is that he instigates them not merely for political purposes, not merely to give the appearance of caring about a problem,

Bush established the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors in March after disclosures in The Washington Post of poor living conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for some wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The articles also detailed the bureaucratic maze that many soldiers experienced during their long recoveries.

but because he sincerely expects them to come up with a reasonable action plan, that he will then implement in order to address the problem, maybe even solve it.

Of course, the Bush administration has kind of positioned itself at the “dashing our hopes” and “confirming our worst suspicions” end of the market. So we may as well prepare ourselves to be cruelly disappointed before we go any further.

The Dole-Shalala commission turned in their report to the White House on Wednesday:

The panel issued six broad recommendations intended to transform a troubled system for military health care and veterans’ assistance that has left some injured soldiers languishing for years and resulted in inequitable and inconsistent disability benefits.

The proposals include creating “recovery coordinators” who would help each seriously injured service member navigate the complexities of care, rehabilitation and disability; giving the Department of Veterans Affairs sole responsibility for determining payments for wounded veterans; and taking aggressive steps to prevent and treat post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Administration Authorized Speaking Orifices — in the person of the chief AASO, Tony Snow — lost no time in making it clear that the White House wouldn’t exactly be rushing to implement the recommendations:

White House press secretary Tony Snow initially told reporters yesterday that Bush would not act immediately on the panel’s advice. “He’s not going to be making recommendations; he’s not going to be issuing calls for actions,” Snow said.

Dole and Shalala — the crafty so-and-sos — seem to have foreseen precisely this dénouement. Which is why they took the trouble to make it awkward for the president to drag his heels on implementation:

The 29-page report is titled “Serve, Support, Simplify.” Its six overall recommendations are broken down into 35 specific “action steps,” only six of which would require congressional legislation, Shalala said. Most of the others could be directed by the White House, the Pentagon and the VA, she added.

“These are doable,” Shalala said at a news conference. “I told the president that I almost brought my Nike T-shirt that says, ‘Just do it.’ “

Which may be why the administration has already moved beyond its initial response:

But late yesterday afternoon, after Dole and Shalala’s comments and criticism from a veterans group, Bush — appearing on the White House South Lawn after going running with two soldiers who had lost legs in combat* — announced that he will move quickly.

In fact:

Yesterday afternoon, Bush announced that he had instructed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson “to look at every one of these recommendations, to take them seriously and to implement them.”

You always knew you could count on the President to do the right thing, right? Especially once someone puts his nuts in a P.R. vice.

However, don’t look for Mr. Dole and Ms. Shalala to be working on any more Presidential commissions in the near future. Not for the next 18 months, at least.

* Q: Is there any situation at all in which this cardboard cutout cartoon will draw the line at cynically using real people as political props?

A: No sir, no sir, three bags full.

(And presumably you don’t really need me to spell out what those bags are full of, do you?)