WHEN America fails to keep faith with its veterans, Barack Obama declared while campaigning for the White House, “we are all dishonoured”. Candidate Obama vowed to appoint additional staff to the Veterans’ Administration (VA) to reduce the backlog of claims. Speaking after revelations in 2007 of patient neglect at the army’s flagship hospital in Washington, DC, Mr Obama promised that if elected he would improve the “shameful” care offered to some “wounded warriors”.

It is thus mortifying for the president that he now finds himself engulfed in a fresh scandal involving at least 26 VA facilities, this time involving allegations that managers falsified records and kept secret waiting lists to conceal delays in providing veterans with care. Some died while they were waiting.

Mr Obama told reporters on May 21st that if the allegations were true, they were “disgraceful” and those responsible would be punished. But the VA remains in the grip of a chronic crisis, with nearly 300,000 veterans’ disabilities claims backlogged for more than 125 days.

Not for the first time, Mr Obama’s first response seemed oddly detached. He offered tepid support for Eric Shinseki, a former four-star general who serves as his secretary for veterans’ affairs, calling him a great public servant who “cares deeply about veterans”, before noting that, if Mr Shinseki were to conclude that he had let veterans down, “then I’m sure that he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve.” With that out of the way, the president then explained how hard it is to run the VA, an agency that has endured backlogs for decades and now faces an influx of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as claims from newly-eligible veterans after rules were relaxed for those exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam or suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Republicans quickly charged that this was just the latest example of Mr Obama’s inability to manage the big-government projects in which he places such faith. Democrats with experience of war struggle to disagree. Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic congresswoman from Illinois who lost her legs while serving as a helicopter pilot in Iraq, told the Washington Post that the crisis needed Mr Obama’s “personal attention at this point.” It certainly has it now.