Becoming an anachronism is difficult. Being part of an anachronistic philosophy is equally as difficult.
Rumsfeld’s resignation is the demarcation line between the “big brother, big policeman," attitudes and government functionaries that have existed since the end of World War II. These attitudes began with the Soviet usurpation of Eastern Europe, which also spawned McCarthyism, the Viet Nam conflict, countless other incursions and covert operations against the “evil empire" of communism.
Now, over a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, Rumsfeld was one of the last of those high-level cold war officials still serving in the government.
There are others, like Dick Cheney, who also served at the fringes of the Cold War. Now, faced with golfing and writing their memoirs, some still prefer to dally in the politics of the world with the same fervor that they applied to their roles when there was at least a perceived reason for those roles.
Will things change with the resignation of Rumsfeld? Probably not right away. Realistic and permanent changes will be left to the next administration. I suppose that Donald Rumsfeld’s phone bill at his ranch in Taos, NM will list daily calls to his replacement, the former chancellor of Texas A&M, at least until after the next presidential election. And I’m sure that there will be office accommodations kept for him in Washington.
But, Rumsfeld’s resignation shows that even among those Old, Cold, Warriors themselves, there is less loyalty to each other and more loyalty to the polls. It signals a change in the wind. Hopefully, it will also be a wind of change. |
