BREAKING: Donald Rumsfeld Resigns; President Addresses Nation

Wow! This accountability stuff works quicker than expected!

AP: GOP says Rumsfeld is stepping down

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.

Word came a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld...

...In the days leading up to the election, President Bush said he wanted Rumsfeld to stay on as defense chief until the end of Bush's second term...

He probably didn't like the thought of congressional oversight hearings. So he cuts and runs.

The President is addressing the nation now. It's the speech that you'd expect-- he congratulates the Democrats on their victory and promises to work together with them in the next two years. Color me massively skeptical on that one; this man does not play well with others. He also said he is all about 'changing the tone' in Washington, ignoring his responsibility for the deplorable fear-mongering, partisan tone that has surrounded it. A reporter did mention to him his previous rhetoric that his critics appeased the terrorists; Bush dodged the question. He reiterated his promise to work with members of Congress.

He thanks Rumsfeld for his service to this country (mission accomplished) and says that Rumsfeld's departure does not mean any change in policy on Iraq. He said that we can't change course in Iraq because then America will be 'less safe'. When a reporter mentioned that the majority of voters wanted the troops to come home, he said he does too but that it ain't happening with 'victory'... He says that this change is merely about a "fresh perspective". And we should not forget that fresh perspective had to be forced on the President via a massive electoral loss. We held his feet to the fire and we won.

I must add that I am not sure that the new Secretary- Robert Gates- will be any better than Rumsfeld, but I'll wait and see. Some quick Googling confirmed my suspicion that he's an old Reagan/Bush Sr. hand. He was a top CIA guy, who was first nominated to head the agency in 1987, but withdrew that nomination because of his connection to Iran-Contra. He was successfully renominated for CIA chief in 1991. Does he share the neocon philosophy of Cheney and Rumsfeld? Does he share the same disdain for transparency and accountability as them? Let's hope no and no on both counts... This buys Bush time on Iraq (and got him to mention Afghanistan too!), but he can't stop the inevitable in that war. It's a lateral move.

(UPDATE: An interesting thought via my friend Bill... Bush likely nominated Gates now so he can be confirmed quickly by the lame-duck Republican Senate before their term expires.)

This press conference does show a President who's been humbled, as I hoped. He is talking about the war on terror, and says that he knows that the Democrats are as strong as he is on wanting to defeat terrorism and keep America safe. He said they support our troops... a long way after telling people just last week that if the Democrats won, then the "terrorists win and America loses". It is still obvious that he remains delusional on the reality of the Iraq war, but his bubble is popped and his rubberstamp in Congress is gone. That's encouraging.

We shouldn't fall into a false sense of political complacency, of course. But we proved in this election that even The Decider is answerable to the people of this country. This is a good day for democracy. I'm all smiles here. This may go down as the most signifcant midterm election ever.