One day after voters spanked Republicans in the midterm elections, George Bush turned a two-year commitment to Donald Rumsfeld into a "heckuva job, Rummy," before the last ballots have even been counted. Rumsfeld resigned his post as Secretary of Defense after almost six years on the job, and Bush will nominate Robert Gates to replace him:

Donald Rumsfeld will resign as Defense Secretary in a stunning consequence of yesterday's midterm election results which demonstrated American dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq.

President Bush has chosen Robert Gates, president of Texas A&M and former CIA director, to replace him. Gates represents a change in direction for the Pentagon . He has a reputation for a pragmatic approach to foreign policy. In George H. W. Bush's administration, Gates served as deputy to National Security Council director Brent Scowcroft, who has been a sharp critic of the current President Bush's Iraq policy. His nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.

During a press conference, President Bush announced the resignation, calling Rumsfeld a "superb leader" but emphasizing that a "fresh perspective" was needed and that "the timing is right for new leadership" at the Pentagon. He called Rumsfeld a "trusted adviser and friend," and that he's "deeply grateful" for his service to the country.

Although President Bush has long defended Rumsfeld from bipartisan criticism of his conduct of the war in Iraq, calling him a "smart, tough capable administrator" two weeks ago, his hand was forced by the outcome of the midterm elections which swept the Democrats back into control of the House for the first time in 12 years. Many voters cited the war in Iraq as one of the reasons that they were rejecting Republican candidates at the polls.

I have no illusions about the indispensability of any one man in the American effort for national security. Rumsfeld has done tremendous work at the Pentagon during his tenure, which will be the longest period for any SecDef by the time he actually steps down. He has also served as a lightning rod for criticism on the war in Iraq, which comes with the job. Cabinet positions are political appointments, and political appointments get changed when the politics demand it, and SecDef is no exception to that reality. I argued before that I'd rather see Rumsfeld resign than pull out of Iraq.

However, the timing of this move seems ludicrous. Just two weeks ago, Bush riled up the electorate by pledging unwavering support for Rumsfeld for the next two years. I'm sure that a number of Republican politicians who find themselves out of a job wonder why this decision didn't get made two months ago, and why Bush had to issue that unhelpful statement in the midst of the midterm struggles. Obviously, Bush can live without Rumsfeld, and obviously the White House now understands the drag that Rumsfeld had on the GOP. Otherwise, he wouldn't be out today. Why didn't anyone at the White House figure this out two or three months ago, when the transition to Gates could have demonstrated a little more flexibility on Iraq?

Robert Gates sounds like a fine choice to replace Rumsfeld, at least in terms of experience. I think a skilled politician on the Hill might have been a better choice, perhaps even Bill Frist, who has to know that his presidential ambitions just hit a brick wall in the midterms. (Insiders will not win in 2008.) However, Gates served under Brent Scowcroft and is a member of the new commission headed by Jim Baker to rethink Iraq policy. This looks like a big shift away from democratization and a realignment to something much closer to the foreign policy of Bush 41.

I suspect that the Senate under either party's leadership will move quickly to confirm Gates in order to expedite Rumsfeld's departure. Let's hope that the new SecDef doesn't start playing the realpolitik games that left us vulnerable to Islamist terrorism in the first place.

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