After one imaginary emergency and phony crisis after another, each one dutifully pumped up all out of proportion for its political potential by the wolf-crying GOP/Fox outrage factory, the Obama Administration has finally managed to stumble into a real and unalloyed fuckup.

The VA scandal has the potential to destroy the Presidency and condemn the nation to years of Republican rule, but Obama has no one to blame but himself. Oh sure, it will be argued that the VA had been in trouble long before Obama was elected, that it was neglected, underfunded, behind the times and overburdened, but that doesn’t cut it. It is precisely because we knew all that and extravagant promises were made to fix it long ago that this scandal is different from the conspiracy theories associated with the IRS, AP, Fast and Furious, Global Warming, Libya, Obamacare, XL pipeline,the Ukraine and yes, Benfuckingazi. This time its for real, and it hurts. This time, its a real wolf.

The Democrats will argue that the problem was inherited; true, but so what? We knew what we were getting into and had six years to do something about it. Nothing happened. We put in a man of impeccable reputation and proven performance, Gen Shinseki, to clean up the mess, and not only did he fail to do so, he failed to sound the alarm that he couldn’t, the problem was beyond his capabilities or/or resources so public scrutiny and a new tack could be unleashed on it. Either that, or he did so and his warnings were ignored. Both are unacceptable. And when the scandal finally broke, his response, as was the President’s, was sadly disappointing and totally inadequate. You can blame the Right for obstructing the funding, but you can’t blame it for cooking the books.

Regardless of Shinseki’s ultimate culpability, this one’s not on the General, its on the Commander in Chief. Democrats will complain that Republican obstruction, sabotage and extortion allowed the problem to fester, but that won’t wash either. The GOP’s cynical attempts to hamstring this President are well-documented, even proudly bragged about by those guilty of them, but no one has ever pointed out to us that a VA meltdown was building for years, or its breadth and depth. This isn’t filibusters and voter suppression, or vacant judgeships and agency chairs: this came out of nowhere. Rachel Maddow never warned us.

I was actually a VA client for 3 years, and I saw nothing coming. I saw a brand new shiny clinic, cheerful and competent staff, a bureaucracy that seemed to be functioning smoothly. I got good service. I figured, thanks to Obama, this agency has finally gotten the funding and attention it needed. In short, I was blindsided. But these new allegations cannot be brushed off as a fluke or an outlier; they are widespread and undeniable. And so is the ultimate responsibility.

This is Obama’s WMD, his Katrina, his Great Recession.