Nine months after the resignation of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, there is another former Wichitan in the president’s Cabinet — Defense Secretary Robert Gates. For whatever reason, Cabinet members from Wichita are getting to be the rule rather than the exception. Before Norton there was Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, the former Wichita congressman who served five years in President Clinton’s Cabinet.
These native Wichitans have brought a wealth of experience to their important responsibilities and, we’d like to think, a generous measure of Kansas-bred common sense and integrity. It’s gratifying to see our community give rise to such important public servants. And for all the essential community talk about how to keep talented kids from leaving, such Wichitans-made-good stories, in all walks of life, send a valuable message to area young people about their potential to contribute to the world.
Unlike most Cabinet members named midway through a lame-duck president’s term, Gates cannot be a placeholder. In taking his oath Monday to replace Donald Rumsfeld, he became perhaps the most important Cabinet member of President Bush’s two terms, with the urgent duty to help find and employ the right next strategy on Iraq.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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5 Comments
That was a wonderful blog entry. These former Wichitans should be amd are role models for our community.
Only people stupid enough to jump into the fire!
New Defense Secretary Robert Gates is a graduate of Wichita’s East High School and an Eagle Scout (as was Donald Rumsfeld). I have heard Mr. Gates’ brother was a principal of Southeast High School. I hope the Wichita EAGLE will eventually furnish more information about the Wichita connection of the Gates family.
Is this the same plain-spoken common sense that got us into the Iraq quagmire, where victory (as defined by the President) depends on what Iraqis do without us?
And is the same plain-spoken common sense that supported terrorism in Central America?