That’s got a nice ring to it. Let’s say it again: “Former defense secretary”. i.e. no longer in office, not able to warmonger, not able to spout off about wars on pointlessness. I loved watching the recorded press conference Bush gave earlier today in which he looked visibly humbled by the election result from yesterday. And I loved watching him cut Rumsfeld. Nobody will miss him.
But I’d rather it hadn’t been Iraq that won the election. I’d rather it had been about education, social reform and programmes, and all that jazz. But if it takes Iraq to help kill off a few Republican seats, then so be it. And they took the Senate too! Woooooo! Let’s hope they don’t waste it (and that impeachment hearings aren’t impossible). Hopefully, Bush is a lame duck.
Isn’t it cool? 
Jon.
Now that his legacy is complete, I can safely say that Donald Rumsfeld was the greatest Defense Secretary since Robert McNamara. A man who can cancel Crusader (the gun, not the plane) must be great indeed. And of course I’ll miss him.
He needed a rest though, and his resignation was decided long before the elections. Bush kept it on hold until thereafter.
BTW, please observe that Democrats running on a strong defense platform won handily (e.g. Joe Lieberman, Shuler, etc.). So, Americans understand the existential thread posed by Islamists. They aren’t very happy with Republicans though.
Gotta be careful of those existential threads.
If you pull on one too hard, the whole thing starts to unravel.