What would change if Rumsfeld resigned?

Yesterday I had some comments about whether Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should resign, but I wanted to emphasize one key point: Replacing Rumsfeld does not mean that the Neoconservative agenda which is supported by Bush, Cheney, Hadley, and many others in the Bush administration would also be replaced. Replacing one key player would not change the overall team agenda one iota. Sure, we could see a change in personality and "tone", but no change in results.

Replacing one Neoconservative with another is unlikely to result in a different outcome.

Replacing one Neoconservative out of a group of Neoconservatives with a non-Neoconservative is also unlikely to result in a different outcome.

A key caution: Be careful what you ask for, because you might get it. Rumsfeld might be replaced with someone who has a softer, more comforting "tone" and rhetoric in public that can not be attacked and ridiculed as easily, but pursues the same overall agenda.

Now, if someone wants to argue that President Bush should be impeached (and Cheney as well), that would have the prospect of a new overall team that could result in a different outcome.

Merely calling for Rumsfeld's resignation is simply a political cheap-shot, designed to score some political points.

-- Jack Krupansky