Dr. Wolfowitz

Paul Wolfowitz is one of those guys the Left loves to hate, one of the founders of the Neo-conservative movement, and perhaps the stereotypical neo-con as far as the Left is concerned. Formerly one of Rumsfeld’s right-hand men when he was at the Defense Department, Dr. Wolfowitz moved on last year to become president of the World Bank. But Dr. Wolfowitz is still involved in DoD affairs, and in a way you might not expect. Kathleen Parker, in “What You Don't Hear About Dr. Wolfowitz,” tells us.

Americans have heard much about coffins returning from Iraq without media coverage; they've heard about military funerals unattended by the commander in chief; they've also heard endlessly about a certain military mother who lost a son in Iraq.

What they don't hear much about are the quiet events and private meetings that often take place in the Oval Office between President George W. Bush and military families. Or the Friday-night steak dinners local restaurateurs throw for wounded vets from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

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I also noticed a couple of suits by the door wearing wires.

I introduced myself and asked who in the room required security. They weren't in the mood to say, apparently, but suggested that I'd probably be able to figure it out. In a room full of camouflage and amputees, it was easy to spot a man in a dark suit casually grasping a Corona neck. I wandered over to the group surrounding him and listened as Isaac Serna, a 21-year-old Humvee gunner, described how he had been wounded.

The man in business attire was Dr. Paul Wolfowitz, former deputy defense secretary and now head of the World Bank. Wolfowitz listened intently, asked a few questions, then joined Serna and others for a group photo. And so the evening went, with the former deputy quietly making the rounds -- listening and shaking hands -- and lingering for a while after the wounded were headed back to Walter Reed.

Read the whole thing. You just have to admire people, especially powerful people, who simply do the right thing without any fanfare whatsoever. Can you imagine someone like, say Hillary or AlGore, doing something…anything…like this without a press release and a gaggle of photographers at hand to capture every poignant and sympathetic moment? Nah, neither can I.