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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120720/NEWS09/307200033/-1/SPORTS12/Biden-s-son-touts-Obama-s-commitment-veterans

Biden's son touts Obama's commitment to veterans

President Barack Obama has been a decisive commander in chief and fulfilled his promises of four years ago, showing a deep appreciation for the nation’s veterans, says Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden.

Beau Biden, 43, is the attorney general of Delaware and a major in the Delaware Army National Guard who served a yearlong deployment to Iraq in 2008 and 2009. He made two appearances in Iowa on Thursday, visiting with Obama supporters at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown and speaking to about 30 veterans at the Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 33 union hall in Des Moines.

The younger Biden said Obama understands exactly what it means to be commander in chief, recognizing when and where and how to deploy U.S. military forces. Obama promised to go after al-Qaida terrorists, which is what he has done, eliminating much of al-Qaeda’s leadership structure and giving the approval for the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, he said.

Obama also ended the war in Iraq responsibly and put the U.S military on a path in Afghanistan to hand over authority to Afghans, he said.

Biden also said that Obama understands that his obligations to veterans don’t end when they come home, but continue until they take their last breath. That’s why Obama has increased spending on behalf of veterans more than any other president over the past three decades, he said.

Obama has been criticized by Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign, which contends that if the president’s proposed defense cuts become a reality, more than 5,000 Iowans could find themselves out of work. That would include the loss of hundreds of jobs at the Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines, Romney aides said.

Romney “will make sure that our armed forces have the resources they need to defend our country and that our veterans receive the care they deserve when they return home,” said Romney spokesman Shawn McCoy. He also noted the unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is currently higher than the national jobless rate.

Biden said in an interview with The Des Moines Register that no president has been more on the side of the National Guard than Obama. The president carried out his pledge to have the head of the National Guard become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his proposed defense budget has been supported by the leaders of the Joint Chiefs, as well as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his predecessor, Robert Gates, Biden said.

“The professionals are supportive of it, and that is a strong indication of it being the right thing for our nation and our armed forces,” Biden said.

Biden added he hasn’t heard Romney talk much about veterans, except for a speech last year in which Romney floated the idea of issuing vouchers to privatize health care for veterans.

“That is a fundamental, stark difference,” Biden said. “One candidate wants to voucherize it, and hand people a voucher when they get off the plane after putting their lives on the line. Another wants to increase spending on behalf of veterans and continue to do a better job every day.”


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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