You Were Doing a Heckuva Job in Iraq, Rummie

Rumsfeld told to back off. This made all kinds of sense in the face of Democratic control of Congress and possibly even of the Senate. And it will clearly lead to deep changes in the handling of the Iraq war.

But as William Arkin points out, it ain't gonna be no picnic for Dems:

In the ways of Washington, Democrats in the House will hold high-profile hearings to prove their point and punctuate their displeasure with the administration. It will be a tricky balancing act for them: Renewed accountability and oversight on the one hand to distinguish themselves from the rubber stamp; not appearing to be floundering and without a plan on the other.

One of the reasons this is a problem, of course, is that it goofy Dems helped get us into this situation in the first place. Arkin concludes:

I know that this election is just a warm up for 2008, and I know that cooperation and resolution is a long shot given the prize to come. But as much as I am tickled by the rejection of the extremism of Cheney and Rumsfeld, I also hope that the election will serve as a repudiation of those who think or argue that national security is just a political instrument.

The conspiracy crowd was wrong about an Iran October surprise or some other Rovian bombshell that would turn the tide: The truth is that wars are not deviously being planned and that the Iraq war wasn't a devious conspiracy. It was as much a product of visionless Democrats who supported it.

Time to get vision.