When I was young, "Don't speak ill of the dead" was right up there with "Get your hands out of your pockets" and "Stop wiping your nose on the napkin." There were lists of things one just didn't do and recalling that my recently departed Uncle Joe once spent some time cracking rocks for borrowing cars belonging to other people was one of them.
As I've grown older - not necessarily matured - I've questioned a lot of the forbidden actions of my youth. I walk with my hands in my pockets quite often and sometimes, in dire straits, I've been known to wipe my nose with whatever's handy. I also doubt why saying something negative about, say, the late Michael Jackson is any worse than saying the same thing about the early Michael Jackson. Truth is truth and opinion is opinion. This is why I find it pretty silly to hesitate before commenting on the death of Robert McNamara.
Many have mixed feelings about Robert Strange McNamara. Anyone who lived through the first version of our national nightmare of lie-based war, tunnel-visioned leadership and despicable disregard for American lives remembers Robert McNamara. Many hold him responsible for the insanity of Agent Orange and the thousands of Americans as well as Vietnamese who suffered - and who may still be suffering - from its after effects.
There are also many, myself included, who were not moved by his later tearful conclusion that the war was wrong and we never should have remained in Viet Nam as long as we did, etc. etc. I felt it would have been a lot better to have reached that conclusion before 58,000 Americans had died.
It's worth reflecting that most of the people we have had in charge of our military come from corporate backgrounds. Charles E. Wilson ("What's good for General Motors is good for the country.") was CEO of (surprise!) General Motors. Donald Rumsfeld (remember Jolly Don?) was CEO of Searle and General Instruments. McNamara (Secretary of Defense for Kennedy and Johnson) was CEO at Ford.
Richard Nixon, who should qualify as an expert, once called McNamara "A ruthless little bastard." This was a description of a successful former CEO. In case you haven't been reading the papers, people don't get to be CEOs by being courteous, listening carefully to criticism and thinking beyond next quarter's financial statement. If CEOs did this, we might not be in the shape we're in today.
I wonder whether this reliance on corporites for public office is a good thing. People who sit in corner offices may be good at packing their golden parachutes, but they are usually short on common sense. If Charlie Wilson were still alive, for instance, I'd like to ask him whether he still feels the same way about General Motors. Maybe we should look outside the boardroom for Secretaries of Defense. I think our present one, Robert Gates, is pretty good. What's his background? President of Texas A & M. An academic, by God!! Maybe we can find a few more of them somewhere.
Could the head of a union ever become a good Secretary of Defense? How about a judge? Sure, CEOs make quick decisions, but how about a doctor? Would a teacher ever make the grade? Must our leaders have a background as CEO of a Halliburton or owner of a failing ball team?
Perhaps pondering the death of McNamara could make us dig into different piles of talent and maybe come up with new and better solutions to the problems for which, frankly, corporate thinking has been largely responsible.