No, it’s not a scandal, so we can’t call it “Gates-gate,” no matter how tempting. But the fallout over the publication of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War” has stirred up plenty of controversy.
It was meant to. It’s what public figure memoirs do. It’s what marketing campaigns do. The issue isn’t about candor–every insider has a take sure to portray others unflatteringly–the issue here is about timing.
The classy approach in this case would have been for Gates to wait for the Obama Administration to end. Your commander-in-chief deserves no less.
But, of course, it would sound too much like “history” and not insider gossip if he waited and wouldn’t be nearly as marketable–as his publishers surely underscored.
This is not about truth. This is about timing, which was off, and class, which was missing