(NewsNation) — After a week of confusing comments from the White House and the Pentagon, we learned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The Pentagon concealed his hospitalization for five days and also didn’t disclose that a deputy had to cover for him while he was being treated. Most importantly, even the White House was apparently kept in the dark about Austin’s condition for weeks.
There’s lots of hand wringing now. Most of it I don’t really care about, whether it’s capital-J journalists on the left incensed at the lack of government transparency or right-leaning partisans using this episode to take another shot at the Biden administration.
The question I need answered is really simple. How does a high-level executive not tell his boss he has cancer and he’s going to be out of the office and is having someone else do his job?
Now, let’s be clear — the media outrage over this is largely manufactured, pious and self-righteous on the left, and partisan and mean spirited on the right.
“It’s in complete shambles, and it gets worse every day. And it’s just so humiliating for America,” one commentator on Fox News said.
A commentator on MSNBC said: “Clearly ,the ball was dropped here. Clearly, it had potential national security implications.”
Another on CNN said: “He should resign. These are serious breaches of trust. They’re serious breaches of transparency, and they do ultimately affect our readiness as a nation to respond.”
Then there’s the wild grandstanding from politicians such as Montana Republican Congressman Matt Rosendale on Fox News.
“This displays exactly why the American people are losing confidence in our institutions. Secretary Austin has demonstrated the desire to either mislead or to flat lie to the American public for quite some time now,” Rosendale said.
I don’t even really care about the Pentagon announcing a change in their policies to make sure this doesn’t happen.
“The Department is taking immediate steps to improve our notification procedures,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the press secretary for the Department of Defense. “Yesterday, the secretary’s chief of staff directed the DOD’s director of administration and management to conduct the 30-day review of the department’s notification process for assumption of functions and duties of the Secretary of Defense.”
What procedures? He didn’t tell anyone. That’s not a flawed procedure. It’s a bad decision.
I don’t care that much about any of it. What I am interested in is just how did he get away with not telling the boss that he would be out for a while because he had cancer?
At the White House briefing Tuesday, spokesperson John Kirby confirmed the fact that President Joe Biden was unaware of Austin’s condition for an entire month.
“The Pentagon already talked about when the secretary was diagnosed. It was early December,” Kirby said. “And as their statement said, in consultation with his doctors, he elected to have the procedure done later in the month to coincide with the holidays. … the President didn’t know about the diagnosis until this morning. But his reaction is he wishes the secretary all the best for a speedy recovery.”
Fair enough. But didn’t anyone wonder where he was?
When I was diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago. I was hosting a cable news show. I decided I wasn’t going to tell the audience or even my colleagues about it. But I had to tell my boss why I’d be out and why, when I came back, I’m going to look a little rough.
Some months later, I went public with it. But I just don’t get how he thought he could avoid telling the boss.
So, do I care if the media feels the public has a right to know? Not really. Do I believe that this shows he’s fundamentally dishonest? No.
I can understand the desire not to want to share prostate cancer treatment. But I don’t get how he thought, in his position, he could avoid sharing this with the president and how the administration didn’t realize that something was amiss for that long.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not of NewsNation.
