Known and Unknown_ A Memoir - Donald Rumsfeld [381]
Bush did not appear to be considering a wholesale change in strategy. In fact, he discussed his efforts to bring General Abizaid to Washington to help coordinate the war effort from the White House. I told the President that my impression from Abizaid was that as a professional soldier he felt he would be uncomfortable with a position in the White House. With General Casey slated to leave his post in Iraq, the President was planning to nominate Casey to be chief of staff of the Army. He asked for my opinion on who might replace Abizaid and Casey. I again mentioned David Petraeus.13
After twenty minutes, we stood up and shook hands.
As the election returns came in later that evening, it became clear that November 7 would not be good for Republicans. Democrats won a sizable victory in the House and defeated incumbent Republicans in the United States Senate, putting Democrats in control of both houses. Representative Nancy Pelosi, a liberal representative from San Francisco, would become the first female Speaker of the House.
With the midterm elections over, attention soon turned to the 2008 presidential election. Senators planning to seek the presidency, such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, would use their new majority to hammer away at the administration and try to burnish their liberal credentials for the Democratic primary voters. John McCain, in turn, was going to serve as ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Without mentioning the President by name, he had been opportunistically undermining the administration’s policies in his quest for the Republican nomination for the presidency. It seemed to be his way of separating himself from President Bush and burnishing his image as a maverick without directly taking him on.
The day after the election, I stood with the President and Bob Gates in the Oval Office for the announcement of my resignation and Gates’ nomination. I wished my successor well. I couldn’t resist quoting Winston Churchill to the effect, “I have benefitted greatly from criticism and at no time have I suffered from a lack there of.”14 I thanked the President for giving me the opportunity to serve and for the privilege of working so closely with the men and women in uniform.
There were many who sent well wishes over the next few days. Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, telephoned. Referring to his wife, he joked, “Irina said this morning, ‘Don is a free man. I envy Joyce.’”15 Henry Kissinger called me at home. He was disappointed by my departure, saying, “The irony is you are being attacked for overruling the generals, and, the truth is, if anything you may have overruled them too little.”16 He may have been right.
I appreciated the many kind comments I received. One of the more personal came from Congressman John Dingell, that, in a way, closed a loop on my public career. The Michigan Democrat was one of the first people I met when I had been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives back in 1962. We had played paddleball together in the House gymnasium and had been friends since, now more than forty years. “I look forward to shaking your hand and recalling the old days,” he said fondly.17 It was a nice memory for me of how the Congress had once been.*
I promptly shifted from leading the Department of Defense to simply presiding over it, while Gates prepared for his confirmation hearings. I would be available if a crisis occurred, but I decided to remove myself from policy making to the extent possible so that the new secretary would have all of his options open when he arrived.
On a bright Friday in December, with the sun pouring onto the Pentagon’s parade field and with the President and Vice President of the United States and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs beside me, I attended my second and, as I mused at the time, my last farewell ceremony as secretary of defense. My departure was not what Joyce and I had