With today’s political polarization, it’s worthwhile to pause and focus on what’s going right in Washington. Let’s start by commending the new secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin, for his steady and decisive leadership in the last several months.

Shulkin was not my first choice to lead the VA. I had hoped to see a chief executive at the department with a military service background. Moreover, I feared that by elevating someone from the last administration’s leadership (he served previously as undersecretary for health), we would just end up with “more of the same.”