Bush has finally listened to his wife. As Bob Woodward says in his State of Denial, Laura Bush was one of the people who apparently told Bush to replace Rumsfeld. Now Rumsfeld himself has taken the lead. Good for him; now, he can start criticising troops in public and not just private. After all, he had done a 'fantastic job' in the words of his mentor, and what better class act than to leave gracefully after doing such a job, so that your career will forever remain untarnished. I wonder whether his resignation was a 'known unknown' or an 'unknown unknown' for him.

Now with the Democrats in charge of the house and probably the senate as well, I hope they make it as difficult for Bush to pass flawed bills as it would be for Martin Bormann to gain entry to a bar mitzwah. As the NYT said, they didn't win particularly because people voted for them, but because people voted against Republicans. But much of course needs to be done by them, and much anticipation abounds. The choice in their latest invasion is one between the 'tolerable and the awful' only, and it needs to be seen how tolerable they make it.