Senator Biden Calls for Rumsfeld to Step Down

If Bush is serious about a new direction in his foreign policy, it would help matters if he actually focused on the major issues of the day rather pandering to his right wing base with constitutional amendments that don't win the war in Iraq, stabilize Afghanistan, ease tensions with Iran, build relationships with our few remaining allies, resolve our issues with North Korea, keep the oil markets flowing, find Osama bin Laden, and deal with a host of other important issues. If Bush did nothing more than replace some of his incompetent foreign policy advisers with ones who are competent, that alone would be a major accomplishment.

I suspect a majority of Americans are wondering how many blunders and fiascos have to occur on Rumsfeld's watch before he is replaced with someone competent? Senator Biden is once again calling for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to step down; here's the story from CNN:

Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the accountability for Haditha and other alleged atrocities in Iraq should go all the way up to Rumsfeld. (Watch Rumsfeld's critics fueled by Haditha incident -- 2:17)

"We can't get rid of the president; he's there for two-and-a-half more years," Biden said. "There is a system of accountability. ... When you make serious mistakes, you step forward and you acknowledge them and you walk away.

"Presidents can't and shouldn't do that. Secretaries of defense can and should."

Biden said Rumsfeld "should be be gone; he shouldn't be in his office tomorrow morning."

Personally, I would have no trouble with Bush acknowledging his mistakes and walking away, so long as Dick Cheney went first. But if there is to be any practical accountability in the Bush Administration, it's time for Rumsfeld to go. Nothing good can be accomplished by keeping Rumsfeld on the job.