oracle
02-22-2002, 10:16 AM
A Message for Rumsfeld (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=105001673)
Our troops need straight talk on the meaning of service.
Peggy Noonan
Friday, February 22, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST
On Wednesday Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with the troops at Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base to grip and grin, take questions and fill them in on the war so far. The troops were gathered photogenically in what CNN called the living and dining area of the base and what looked like a big cavernous hangar, which happened to have a jet parked in the background.
It was billed as a town-hall meeting with American airmen, and it reminded me of what Richard Brookhiser once said of presidential campaigns, that it's the outside story--the public statements and speeches, the things voters can see and are meant to see--that tends to be more interesting and important than the inside story of who said what at the meeting.
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Mr. Rumsfeld's appearance gave rise to some thoughts, mostly about him.
He has of course, since Sept.11, emerged as a singular presence in the war. At first it was startling: all that interestingness wrapped up in such blandness. Mr. Rumsfeld looks like the competent mayor of a midsize metropolis, or the savvy CEO of a midlevel company. Gray hair, gray suit, silver-rimmed glasses. He looked the other day like a beige and silver guy in a tired red tie.
And yet these days he seems, as leaders go, a natural. Much has been written about his skills, and though the amount of interest being paid to him is inevitable--he's a WASP wartime consigliere, an interesting thing in itself--a lot of it misses the point.
As a communicator he's clear as clean water. He seems ingenuous. He talks with his hands. He's thought it through and knows a lot and tells you what he knows. At first you sense his candor and clarity and enjoy it without realizing it. Then you realize you must be enjoying it because you're still listening. Then you sense that his candor and clarity are in the service of intelligence and clean intentions. You find yourself following what he says, following the logic and the argument. Which makes you ultimately lean toward following him.
He's Bushian, but he seems more interesting than George W. Bush, and not only because he is more experienced, an accomplished veteran of past governments. (He was first elected to the House 40 years ago; the first time he was Defense Secretary was in 1975, when he was the youngest ever.) He has a certain merriness, which is a good thing in a war leader when it is not a sign of idiocy, and it is a knowing merriness. Mr. Bush in contrast has comic, joshing moments, and Dick Cheney has genuine wit.
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Mr. Rumsfeld, like Mr. Bush, uses plain words to say big things. He can use plain words because he isn't using words to hide. He can afford to be frank, and in any case it appears to be his natural impulse. He can afford to be frank because we are at war, and part of winning is going to be remembering that we're fighting, and why, which is not easy when there's so much on sale at the mall. Part of Mr. Rumsfeld's job is to tell the American fighting man and woman, and the American people who pay for the defense establishment, what is going on in the war, and how, and where, and why, and what the future holds. It's his job, in effect, to be blunt, to increase consciousness, and to enhance our determination while damping down pointless anxiety. It's a delicate dance, and yet he doesn't seem to be dancing.
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When asked by an airman how long the war will last, Mr. Rumsfeld said that question is quite close to him because every morning when his wife wakes up she asks about Osama. "Don, where is he?" He tells the airmen, "There's no way to know how long. It's not days, weeks, months; it's years for sure."
Asked if the U.S. military will wind up occupying Afghanistan, he calls that "unlikely," but says the U.S. wants to help Afghanistan build and train its own army. He foresees "a military-to-military relationship."
It's clear when he speaks, and because it's clear you can follow it, and because you can follow it you consider following him.
This as we all know is not always the way with leaders. Usually people like secretaries of defense and secretaries of state and United Nations representatives say things like this: "We have to remember, Tim, that the infrastructure of the multinational coalition in conjunction with the multilateral leadership entities inevitably creates potential for a disjunction of views that requires cooperation, coordination and cohesion from member states."
Some of them talk like that because they're hopelessly stupid and are trying to hide it. Some of them are just boring. But a lot of leaders talk like this because they don't want to communicate clearly. They want instead to create a great cloud of words in which the listeners' attention and imagination will get lost.
They're not trying to break through with thought, they're trying to obfuscate. They are boring not by accident but by design. Because they don't want people to understand fully what they're doing. Because they know what they're doing won't work, or is wrongheaded, or confused, or cowardly, or cynical, or just another way to dither, or will more likely yield bad outcomes than good.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=105001673)
Our troops need straight talk on the meaning of service.
Peggy Noonan
Friday, February 22, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST
On Wednesday Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with the troops at Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base to grip and grin, take questions and fill them in on the war so far. The troops were gathered photogenically in what CNN called the living and dining area of the base and what looked like a big cavernous hangar, which happened to have a jet parked in the background.
It was billed as a town-hall meeting with American airmen, and it reminded me of what Richard Brookhiser once said of presidential campaigns, that it's the outside story--the public statements and speeches, the things voters can see and are meant to see--that tends to be more interesting and important than the inside story of who said what at the meeting.
<center>----------------</center>
Mr. Rumsfeld's appearance gave rise to some thoughts, mostly about him.
He has of course, since Sept.11, emerged as a singular presence in the war. At first it was startling: all that interestingness wrapped up in such blandness. Mr. Rumsfeld looks like the competent mayor of a midsize metropolis, or the savvy CEO of a midlevel company. Gray hair, gray suit, silver-rimmed glasses. He looked the other day like a beige and silver guy in a tired red tie.
And yet these days he seems, as leaders go, a natural. Much has been written about his skills, and though the amount of interest being paid to him is inevitable--he's a WASP wartime consigliere, an interesting thing in itself--a lot of it misses the point.
As a communicator he's clear as clean water. He seems ingenuous. He talks with his hands. He's thought it through and knows a lot and tells you what he knows. At first you sense his candor and clarity and enjoy it without realizing it. Then you realize you must be enjoying it because you're still listening. Then you sense that his candor and clarity are in the service of intelligence and clean intentions. You find yourself following what he says, following the logic and the argument. Which makes you ultimately lean toward following him.
He's Bushian, but he seems more interesting than George W. Bush, and not only because he is more experienced, an accomplished veteran of past governments. (He was first elected to the House 40 years ago; the first time he was Defense Secretary was in 1975, when he was the youngest ever.) He has a certain merriness, which is a good thing in a war leader when it is not a sign of idiocy, and it is a knowing merriness. Mr. Bush in contrast has comic, joshing moments, and Dick Cheney has genuine wit.
<center>----------------</center>
Mr. Rumsfeld, like Mr. Bush, uses plain words to say big things. He can use plain words because he isn't using words to hide. He can afford to be frank, and in any case it appears to be his natural impulse. He can afford to be frank because we are at war, and part of winning is going to be remembering that we're fighting, and why, which is not easy when there's so much on sale at the mall. Part of Mr. Rumsfeld's job is to tell the American fighting man and woman, and the American people who pay for the defense establishment, what is going on in the war, and how, and where, and why, and what the future holds. It's his job, in effect, to be blunt, to increase consciousness, and to enhance our determination while damping down pointless anxiety. It's a delicate dance, and yet he doesn't seem to be dancing.
<center>----------------</center>
When asked by an airman how long the war will last, Mr. Rumsfeld said that question is quite close to him because every morning when his wife wakes up she asks about Osama. "Don, where is he?" He tells the airmen, "There's no way to know how long. It's not days, weeks, months; it's years for sure."
Asked if the U.S. military will wind up occupying Afghanistan, he calls that "unlikely," but says the U.S. wants to help Afghanistan build and train its own army. He foresees "a military-to-military relationship."
It's clear when he speaks, and because it's clear you can follow it, and because you can follow it you consider following him.
This as we all know is not always the way with leaders. Usually people like secretaries of defense and secretaries of state and United Nations representatives say things like this: "We have to remember, Tim, that the infrastructure of the multinational coalition in conjunction with the multilateral leadership entities inevitably creates potential for a disjunction of views that requires cooperation, coordination and cohesion from member states."
Some of them talk like that because they're hopelessly stupid and are trying to hide it. Some of them are just boring. But a lot of leaders talk like this because they don't want to communicate clearly. They want instead to create a great cloud of words in which the listeners' attention and imagination will get lost.
They're not trying to break through with thought, they're trying to obfuscate. They are boring not by accident but by design. Because they don't want people to understand fully what they're doing. Because they know what they're doing won't work, or is wrongheaded, or confused, or cowardly, or cynical, or just another way to dither, or will more likely yield bad outcomes than good.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=105001673)