Commentary

Appearing on CBS Face the Nation Sunday, Robert Gates criticized the values and the principles of the Republican Party, saying he didn’t think the five Republican presidents he worked for would recognize the Republican Party today. 

It’s difficult for me to criticize Gates, a man with a truly impressive resume of public service to America, but apparently values and principles weren’t important to him when he worked for Barack Obama, among three Democrat presidents.

It was Obama’s apologetic view of America that turned voters to Donald Trump, with a promise to make America great again, which he did while Democrats devoted four years trying to unseat him.

AND CONSIDER THIS – Appearing on a Face the Nation in 2014, when asked whether he believed Hillary Clinton would make a good president, Gates replied, “Actually, I think she would.”  There was no reference to her values and principles.

Writing of Hillary in his memoir, Gates wrote, “I think she was a good secretary of state.  I found her smart, idealistic, but pragmatic, tough-minded, indefatigable, funny, a very valuable colleague, and a superb representative of the United States all over the world.”

Hearing of Gates’ GOP remark, I was reminded of an insightful piece written in 2020 by Frances Menton in his blog, Manhattan Contrarian, which I saved in my stack of stuff, “Surprise: The ‘Smartest’ People Are Actually Painfully Stupid.”

While Menton was poking fun at Harvard in referring to the “smartest” people “with the fanciest degrees and the fanciest professorships at the fanciest universities (being) actually painfully stupid” in his criticism of their “science is back” claim under Biden-Harris, I viewed it in the context of Gates’ remark about the GOP.

Unquestionably, Gates could be considered “smart,” with degrees – not from Harvard – but from William and Mary, Indiana University and Georgetown, he also held a series of impressive positions, including secretary of defense and director of the CIA.

I wouldn’t classify him as “stupid,” considering those credentials, but I question his judgement making the remark regarding the Republican Party.  The five Republican presidents he worked for wouldn’t recognize their party now because the “grand old party” has come alive with millions of voters seeing the GOP today as the “grand opportunity party.”

WHILE ON THE SUBJECT of values and principles, regular readers may recall that I have always asserted that if a general, cabinet member or other presidential advisor cannot support the president, he or she should resign.

In addition, criticizing a president while still in office – in interviews or in a book – to me, reflects poorly on the individual’s own values and principles.  Just prior to his book tour in 2014, Gates was highly critical of Obama’s foreign policy in a Financial Times interview.

AND NOW, MY LAUGH FOR THE DAY – When a Tesla electric car breaks down in Australia, the auto dealer sends out a support vehicle … a gasoline-powered Mitsubishi pickup truck to the rescue.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.