Centerfield

After the Harriet Miers fiasco (Card's brainchild), followed by the ports fiasco, this seemed to be a matter of when, not if. On the other hand, after the Abu Ghraib fiasco, I thought the same thing about Rumsfeld.

I thought TMV had a pretty good analysis of it. It's obvious from the reaction of the conservative blogs that the right really did not like Card, especially after Harriet Meiers, so this could help the President with his base, too. The perception on the right seems to be that Bolten is more in favor of fiscal restraint, and thus will help begin reining in the rampant spending.

At any rate, Andy Card has had a long and distinguished career in public service, and for that I congratulate and thank him.

Todd,

I read a few months ago in a Beltway opinion magazine some speculation that Rumsfeld might have been allowed to resign last year, but that the President was determined not to allow it appear as if his critics had "chased off" the SECDEF. Supposedly, he intended to stick with Rumsfeld until the criticism receded-- when the criticism never did, of course, the President found himself "stuck" with Rumsfeld the last two years.

While I agree that (if true) this speculation raises some questions about this President's priorities, I would say that the same issues would apply to the Democrats who have been determined to rid the world of Don Rumsfeld: they don't want him to resign, they want him to resign because of their demands-- simply losing the SECDEF is meaningless to them if they don't get the credit for it.

And so, ironically, no one gets what they want and Rumsfeld endures...