The Rumsfeld Sack

Robert Novak has some of the best inside sources in Washington. The story he gets about the abrupt post-election departure of SecDef Donald Rumsfeld is thus very aggravating.

According to administration officials, only three or four people knew he would be fired -- and Rumsfeld was not one of them. His fellow presidential appointees, including some who did not applaud Rumsfeld's performance in office, were taken aback by his treatment...

The treatment of his war minister connotes something deeply wrong with George W. Bush's presidency in its sixth year. Apart from Rumsfeld's failures in personal relations, he never has been anything short of loyal in executing the president's wishes. But loyalty appears to be a one-way street for Bush. His shrouded decision to sack Rumsfeld after declaring he would serve out the second term fits the pattern of a president who is secretive and impersonal...

[Sources] believe removal of Rumsfeld falling into the 24-hour cycle was intended to crowd out continued rehashing of disastrous election returns. It is hard to find anyone in the Bush administration who endorses the way Rumsfeld was handled. His friend and comrade, Vice President Dick Cheney, is reported to be profoundly disturbed. MORE

This is totally consistent with the way the Bush Administration operates. Bush has total confidence in his people and stands 100% behind them. Until he doesn't. The same thing happened with FEMA Director Michael Brown after Katrina, CIA Director Porter Goss, two different Treasury Secretaries, and various others.

Obviously the president is entitled to hire and fire people as he pleases. After awhile, however, it becomes difficult to find good people to join the administration when they know they will be treated this way. Bush is caricatured as someone who is surrounded by flunkies and insulated from the real world. Stories like this do nothing to prove the caricature wrong.