When I arrived in Washington to work at the Pentagon, I was briefed that I should compose my e-mails so that if they showed up on the front page of the “Washington Post,” I wouldn’t be embarrassed. And that was over 18 years ago.
During the 1990s, I learned from attending some Promise Keepers events that character is who you are when no one is looking. When I was leading Cadets at the Air Force Academy or mentoring young officers, I told them that they couldn’t turn their professionalism on and off like a light switch (oh, that they tried). Sooner or later, I told them, their character would be revealed for what it is.
That said, I want to make two points.
Now we see people on the front page of the “Washington Post” who apparently “phoned-in” the same briefing I received, never received it, or just didn’t care (a reflection of something called “character”). Hillary is the victim of a hacker and it also appears she was the victim of a failed staff—people you would hope could give her the bad news but seemed afraid to do so. Still, here’s my first point: her character is revealed by the fact that it appears she just didn’t care what she said in her classified e-mails, and her actions regarding stewardship of those classified e-mails have been willfully negligent, or even criminal.
As for Trump, he just can’t help himself. In fact, he’d love it the more he gets on the front page of the “Washington Post.” No one has to leak Trump’s e-mails. We see his character all the time. He tells us what he’s like when no one is around. And, he seems proud of it. Good gosh.
Here’s my second point. Whoever receives the new White House address will need a supporting staff that will tell the occupant what he or she needs to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear. I’ve always said that President Bush was let down by a weak supporting staff. Donald Trump would certainly need a supporting staff of character, perhaps unlike any ever seen. And based upon some of his statements regarding his own misdeeds, he might be the guy who would know that best.
But if people are intimidated by a President Hillary Clinton, especially those who would have to report to her from the Executive Office Building next door, then the one who needs to figure that out is Hillary. With respect to the stewardship of her e-mails, I’m not sure character enters into her judgment very much. Convenience maybe, but not character.
When I arrived at the Pentagon, I assumed that my e-mails showing up on the front page of the “Washington Post” would have been the result of some illegal activity or a general officer clicking “reply all” or something like that. Regardless, it never happened to me. I’m not perfect, and I certainly wasn’t the Secretary of State. I wouldn’t be able to control the source of the leak anyway, but I could control the content of my e-mails. That mattered to me.
And I always encouraged my staff to give me the bad news to my face. I was a big boy—I could take it. My staff often met that challenge. And, just maybe that’s why I stayed out of trouble. Actually, my tour there was quite successful.
So, why has it happened to her? One word: character. It’s who you are when no one is leaking your e-mails.