When someone as prominent and powerful as a top member of the presidential Cabinet decides to step down after a brief stint and without prior public notice, there's a tendency to suspect there's more to the move than meets the eye.
So it is now that Les Aspin is going to bow out Jan. 20 after only a year as secretary of defense, citing ill health and criticism over his handling of the Somalia operation.Though the official explanation won't keep Washington's rumor mills from working overtime, there's ample reason to give it some credence and to express gratitude for Aspin's long service in Congress before entering the Cabinet.
After all, it's common knowledge that Aspin was hospitalized last March with heart problems and underwent surgery to implant a pacemaker. As for criticism that the humanitarian mission to starving Somalia turned too military, Aspin is a veteran of Washington infighting and could easily have survived this misstep - which is partly due to the ineptitude of the United Nations.
In any event, Aspin deserves to be remembered for working hard to get the military to slim down after the cold war was over and for his work as chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, where he was a perceptive student of defense policy and tactics. So great, in fact, was his expertise as a U.S. representative from Wisconsin that Republicans and Democrats alike consulted assiduously with Aspin even when they didn't agree with him.
Aspin came to the Pentagon as a tough but friendly critic of the military. His sharpest criticism over many years was aimed at wasteful defense spending. He also opposed supposedly sophisticated new weapons when they did not contribute significantly to national security. But basically he championed a strong military establishment as a necessity in a hostile world.
Consequently, it's easy to believe that Aspin will be remembered longer and more fondly in retirement than many of the critics who persist in throwing rocks at his performance and reputation.