Donald Rumsfeld's been taking quite a beating recently. I have to say, I wouldn't be at all opposed to his leaving. At this juncture though I don't think his departure is really politically feasible.

Now don't take this to be playing politics with defense. I don't mean that his departure would reflect badly on President Bush or help the Democrats or anything like that. I do though think that his leaving right now could affect the next SecDef's ability to do the job. The attacks are going to continue to escalate in Iraq and I think it's advisable for Rumsfeld to stay on until early next year so that we can at least get over that hump. Then I'd fully support dumping Rumsfeld and bringing in a new guy to manage the operations in post-election Iraq.