The Disabled American Veterans recently posed a series of questions to both presidential candidates McCain and Obama on some very important veterans issues.

The questions revolved around improving Veterans Administration services and benefits to veterans, and included questions on VA funding and funding reform, VA eligibility for care, claims backlogs, and disability compensation reform.

The answers at times were book and what we would expect from presidential candidates. Hey, beating up on veterans does not help turn a candidate into a president. We would therefore expect to see McCain’s- “America has a moral obligation to care for those who have served our nation with honor.” and Obama’s “As president, I will ensure we honor the sacred trust to care for our nation’s veterans”

Obviously, both candidates generally support and promise to promote services and benefits that would improve the lot of our nation’s veterans. The glaring difference in each candidate’s position is in their perception of what constitutes a veteran, or actually- Who is enough of a veteran to be treated as a veteran. No, maybe it’s- who should get treated as a veteran. Possibly it may just boil down to- Should all those who are deemed to be veterans be treated by the Veterans Administration?

This is an old issue that has surfaced and resurfaced many times causing strategic changes and functional gyrations within the VA’s benefits provision scheme on a number of past occasions. Well, it’s still with us and hasn’t changed much. According to the DAV release the candidates weigh in on this as follows:

Obama: “I think the VA should not discriminate in the provision of health care.”

McCain: “I believe that all veterans with service-connected conditions and those with lower incomes should be treated identically, with no distinctions based on whether their injuries occurred in combat, in peacetime or in training.”