He was a tour de force of dedication to American principles.
Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning spoke with hosts Sean Spicer and Lindsay Keith of Spicer & Co. on Newmax TV this week to reflect on legacy of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Manning served in the George W. Bush administration as Public Affairs Chief of Staff in the Department of Labor.
Sean Spicer: “Joining us now now to talk about the life and legacy of Donald Rumsfeld is an appointee that served during the George W. Bush administration and currently the President of Americans for Limited Government is Richard Manning.”
Richard Manning: “Donald Rumsfeld was a guy who was Chief of Staff during the Nixon administration and he served through George W. Bush administration. One of the things that struck me about him was his incredible work ethic. The idea that he would be picked up at 5:30 in the morning with briefing papers, and would keep working until basically late at night every single day shows how dedicated he was to getting his job done to protect this country. It’s one of those legacies that anybody trying to figure out how to serve in this country should take to heart and say that’s how you do it. There is no room for rest, there’s plenty of rest after you’re done serving.”
Lindsay Keith: “I think some people may have forgotten he was actually at the Pentagon on 9-11.When those terrible attacks happened he was helping people get out his team was saying ‘We got to get you out, sir,’ but he was helping other people get out. You worked with him. What do you remember specifically about some of your experiences with him?”
Richard Manning: “Don Rumsfeld was a guy who was intense who had a plan and he implemented it. He never put himself ahead of the President. He was the person who would get it done. And if he couldn’t depend on you to get it done, you didn’t get a second chance.”
Sean Spicer: “I feel like everybody now knows him from his last position as Secretary of Defense during the Iraq and Afghanistan war but, as you mentioned, he was a White House chief of staff, and before he was a naval officer, he was a congressman and presidential candidate. I hope that people take time to realize the breadth and depth of his experience and service.”
Richard Manning: “What the Bush administration attempted to do was something very different. What they attempted to do was rather than play the standard game that was being played in Middle East, they actually tried to do stuff that would fix the problems. Donald Rumsfeld himself was dedicated the premise that you can’t continue doing something that isn’t working, and expect to get a different result. And so consequently, his his breadth of skills, his ability to really apply what he knew meant you got a different result the Middle East. We can all debate 20 years later whether what they did was right or wrong. What I can tell you is what they did in that time, was an aggressive attempt to try to solve a problem that’s been pretty intractable. And I think that his legacy should be as somebody who’s a problem solver, someone who was unafraid to try new things, and who was a real driving force behind innovation that solves problems rather than just accepting the problem and throwing up your hands and saying, ‘I guess we’ll just do the same thing over and over again.’”
