Posted 1:09 PM by Gene

How many secretaries and assistants and aides and other crawling things around the White House have changed the course of history? How many were William Seward buying Alaska, or George C. Marshall saving Western Europe? We know little of history but the secretaries, aides et al seem to fall into five broad groups: jolliers (like Jim Farley), would-be kingmakers (like the nefarious Henry the K and Jim Baker), true believers (like John Foster Dulles), nerds and technoweenies (like Bob McNamara and GEORGE THE KID), and -- the vast majority, alas -- ciphers (we have in mind Ronald Reagan's "mayor", although for some reason that fellow from Kellogg's also comes to mind). Caspar Weinberger and Lyn Nofziger are getting the usual plaudits from the usual sides, but from what nothing we know Nofziger was a true believer and Weinberger was a cross between a kingmaker and a technoweenie. And though we know the Beltway has the permanent Fame syndrome -- it's gonna live forever -- we may wonder whether Sec. Weinberger (who did run a department, as opposed to bending ears) left such a mark -- he spent lots on military hardware, then Dick Cheney came along (remember him?) and spent lots less. (The best the hacks can come up with for Mr. Nofziger is "irreverent", mute testimony to the vapor of public reputation.) But then we'd be hard pressed to gather how important any cabinet member or folks of that ilk can be when so much of our fate is written in the stars: we must spend, and we must tax, and we must rule the world, and there's not a whole lot any mortal can do to change that.