Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had his famous rules, a written roster of commands about how to deal with Washington, including such pearls as “It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.” Robert Gates — his successor in the Bush Administration and, as of this week, the Obama Administration — doesn’t have a list of rules. Those who only see his serious pronouncements about the nation’s wars might even get the impression that Gates doesn’t have a personality
