loyalty

Former Treasury Secretary John O'Neil was on the Daily Show earlier this week. He cut a bit of a tragic figure, talking about how disappointed he was in the Bush administration. It was obvious listening to him that he came to the job expecting a certain level of professionalism from the administration and he didn't find it. He talked about putting together data and analyses only to have Bush, et. al. make major decisions based on gut instinct. Watching him talk about such a major disillusionment was awful, but it was worse to see how betrayed he felt about his treatment after leaving the post.

Rummy, loyal to the core, got called on the carpet by service members about the lack of equipment and support in Iraq earlier this week as well. He hemmed and hawed, and eventually squeezed out an answer about how you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had. The man can't even give the people who put their lives on the line a straight answer becuase he is so committed to his idea of what the war should be. There's this op-ed from Maureen Dowd at the NY Times on the subject.