George Will: Rumsfeld Is a Leader
Feb. 9 -- Sometimes Washington defies satire.
Here we are, in a war against terror, on the brink of a war with Iraq and at a code orange terror alert.
Yet, there is a mini-tempest about whether the secretary of defense is rude.
He has angered some of our so-called allies — this week, Germany.
And, worst, he has bruised the tender feelings of some people in the Pentagon.
Poor dears.
A year ago, Don Rumsfeld's news briefings had earned him the status of a 69-year-old sex symbol — the thinking person's George Clooney.
Now, Rumsfeld is 70, and supposedly has become a grumpy old man — Walter Matthau goes to war.
Rumsfeld sometimes rejects written reports from subordinates, sends the reports back to their authors, demanding they be translated from bureaucratic jargon into plain English.
Also, Rumsfeld is impatient with what Washington loves — the status quo. When he came to the Pentagon, he found the military still too much configured to fight massed Soviet tanks on the plains of northern Europe.
The Pentagon, like every other vast institution, has awful inertia. Dislikes change — and those who force it.
Says What He Means
Well, let us do as Rumsfeld does, and not mince words.
Washington got used to words used by a president who split semantic hairs — about what the meaning of the word "is" is.
Impatient, plain-speaking Rumsfeld does not suffer fools gladly.
But who are these military men who say Rumsfeld has hurt their delicate feelings?
What kind of warriors are these frail flowers?
Lincoln acidly asked the dilatory General McClellan: If you are not using the army, might I borrow it?
Lincoln probably hurt McClellan's feelings.
Sometimes leaders do that.
A leader does not want to feel your pain. A leader is willing to cause you pain.
Rumsfeld is what a leader looks like.
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