#5 - • What Donald Rumsfeld thinks of George Bush

President Bush Nominates Dr. Robert M. Gates to be Secretary of Defense:

"The great respect that I have for your leadership, Mr. President, in this little understood, unfamiliar war, the first war of the 21st century -- it is not well-known, it was not well-understood, it is complex for people to comprehend. And I know, with certainty, that over time the [insert missing adjectives here] contributions you've made will be recorded [more lost adjectives] by history."

Yeah, and you can bet "with certainty" on the recordings being transcribed in Taos forthwith.

Don Rumsfeld doesn't speak accidentally, nor does he forget superlatives. He doesn't drop predicate clauses, he lays them one atop another like bricks until they teeter precariously. Nor does he picture himself as collateral damage. He's a fighter. He's not done.

But why is he gone? And so quick? Simple electoral math. More difficult to get him up the hill when he's retired and gone fishin'. That would require all kinds of subpoena messiness and post facto definitions of executive privelege, whereas Bob Gates can just say "Dunoo about [situation A, B or C], I'm the new guy. I'm here to fix what's right, not fix blame" or some other integrity-lite slogan. Had things gone better for George W, Rummy's glidepath would have been a tad smoother. He's a reluctant wheel chock now, soon to be one of many. The professionals, Poppy's boys, Gates and Baker will handle the reeducation and legacy reno from here on out.