Bob Gates slips up

ALEX WONG/Getty Images Anyone in the D.C. area yesterday evening can tell you that there was some kind of incredibly slippery, impossible-to-detect robo-ice on the ground — the perfect conditions for  major falls and car accidents. The freezing rain caused so much havoc in neighboring Maryland that a judge allowed the polls for the presidential ...

596484_080213_gates2.jpg
596484_080213_gates2.jpg
WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 06: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates pauses as he testifies during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill February 6, 2008 in Washington, DC. The hearing was to examine the FY2009 budget request from the Bush Administration for the Defense Department. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

ALEX WONG/Getty Images

ALEX WONG/Getty Images

Anyone in the D.C. area yesterday evening can tell you that there was some kind of incredibly slippery, impossible-to-detect robo-ice on the ground — the perfect conditions for  major falls and car accidents. The freezing rain caused so much havoc in neighboring Maryland that a judge allowed the polls for the presidential primary to stay open there until 9:30 p.m., 90 minutes after they were due to close. I saw plenty of people slipping and sliding on my walk home, which made my own fall only slightly less embarrassing.

Even the man in charge of the world’s most powerful military wasn’t immune to the perils of robo-ice. Pentagon chief Bob Gates slipped on the ice outside his D.C. home last night and fractured his right shoulder. He’s apparently back at work, though he’s not attending this morning’s Senate hearing on the mammoth defense budget. He — and his ego — are no doubt feeling a little bruised.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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