After virtually ignoring military veterans in the first two debates, the presidential candidates finally made some amends in their third and final face-off.
Well, at least President Barack Obama did.
In Monday night's debate focused on foreign policy, Obama said that part of the dividend from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be used to take care of veterans.
"After a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building here at home," Obama said. "And what we can now do is free up some resources to, for example, put Americans back to work, especially our veterans...making sure that, you know, our veterans are getting the care that they need when it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, making sure that the certifications that they need for good jobs of the future are in place."
He mentioned meeting a former combat medic who was having trouble transferring that knowledge to become a nurse when he returned home to Minnesota.
As The Bee's editorial board urged him to do last week, Obama also bragged a little about his administration's efforts to aid veterans, including First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to get companies to hire veterans.
The president pointed out that the unemployment rate for veterans is now lower than for the general population -- 6.7 percent in September, compared to 7.8 percent overall.
But that's somewhat misleading since the rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is higher, 9.7 percent.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney, however, didn't mention veterans at all -- and now Obama is trying to make political hay out of that.
"The men and women and their families who have served this country so bravely...they deserve better in somebody who is applying to be commander in chief," the president said during a rally Tuesday morning in Delray Beach, Fla.
"I will fight for our veterans and our troops every single day," he added, according to press reports from the campaign trail.
