Veterans Affairs secretary nominee David Shulkin is sworn in for his Veterans Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on Wednesday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

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After Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, there probably has been no greater object of Republican scorn in the last couple of years than the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Much of that was deserved for an agency that disgraced itself with a scandal over the coverup of long wait times for veterans seeking medical care.

But some of the criticism was exaggerated and highly political, not to mention the portion that was just nonsense.

None mastered the hyperbolic hits better than Donald Trump when he was stumping for votes.

“President Obama has allowed our Veterans Affairs health-care system to deny help and support to those who deserve it most,” Trump declared in July.

“The Veteran’s Administration is a disaster,” he charged in October.

If VA was that bad, why did President Trump select David Shulkin, Obama’s VA undersecretary of health, to run the entire department under the new administration?

That question wasn’t explored at Shulkin’s Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, although it would be edifying to hear how Trump meshes his harsh criticism of the agency’s health care with his praise for the man who is in charge of it.

The truth is, VA wasn’t a disaster. Even at the low point of the scandal — and it was very low — VA continued to provide good care for vets — when they could get it. That last point is key. VA has long enjoyed a good reputation for the care it provides, a reputation that was turned upside down by disreputable practices in the way it delivered that care.

Despite his incendiary rhetoric, Trump eventually must have recognized the improvements made by the Obama administration — although he certainly hasn’t acknowledged it — and decided Shulkin was the person to keep the progress going. He became undersecretary in 2015.

“Sadly, our great veterans have not gotten the level of care they deserve, but Dr. Shulkin has the experience and the vision to ensure we will meet the health-care needs of every veteran,” Trump said when he nominated the VA secretary-designate.

Shulkin had that same vision when he worked for Obama and Robert McDonald, the former secretary.

“I came to VA during a time of crisis, when it was clear veterans were not getting the timely access to high-quality health care they deserved,” Shulkin said in his opening statement to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “That is why I focused on meeting the most urgent health-care needs of our veterans first and reorganized our approach to reflect that. As a result, we’ve dramatically reduced the number of people waiting for urgent care. The VA now has same-day services in primary care and mental health at all our medical centers to make sure our veterans get the urgent care they need, when they need it most.”