Hillary Clinton Calls for Rumsfeld to Resign

At least ten retired generals have called for Rumfeld's resignation. But they haven't been alone. For some time, a number of Democrats in Congress have also been calling for Rumsfeld's resignation. I don't recall that Senator Clinton was one of them but she's now making her voice heard. Here's the story from Devlin Barrett of the Associated Press (thanks to AmericaBlog):

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday called on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign, hours after excoriating him at a public hearing over what she called "failed policy" in Iraq.

"I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late," the New York Democrat and potential 2008 presidential contender said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think the president should choose to accept Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation."

(snip)

Asked about Clinton's comments, Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff said, "We don't discuss politics."

Now that last paragraph is worth a good laugh. Rumsfeld is running the most politicized Pentagon in our nation's history and some of his spokespersons are carefully selected by the White House for their ability to spin and disssemble.

I'm in agreement with Senator Clinton about Rumsfeld's resignation even if she's a bit late and perhaps concerned that playing Republican-light doesn't sit well with the voters these days. I'm one of those who believe in reaching across the aisle but first one must be grounded in reality, particularly if someone like Hillary is thinking of running for president. But I applaud her comments. Rumsfeld is so attached to his previous claims about Iraq and spends so much time defending those claims despite facts to the contrary that he has made himself useless. It's time for the bungler to go.