Cynical Governance

Steve Clemons has a post up that is essentially questions why some on the right are starting to mount an anti-Rummy campaign. Clemons gets to the nut of the issue here:

Rumsfeld failed in Abu Ghraib, in Guantanamo, in the invasion of Iraq itself. Show the world that America also has "rule of law" and accountability and remove yourself, Mr. Rumsfeld, since Bush won't do it for you (not unless you become a huge PR liability for him).

But even that -- even dumping Rumsfeld from the Cabinet then -- when he no longer brings popularity even from the most devout on the war-mongering right -- is a crappy
and cynical way to run this government.

American leaders need to do the right things, inspired by conscience and by a sense of the constructive and possible, rather than finally doing the right things (dumping Rummy for instance) when ultimately forced to.

I simply can't imagine the circumstances in which any nations are going to trust our government for years to come. I can imagine some incremental improvements here and there, but only in the most optimistic scenarios which involve dumping the majority of the Bush administration's cast of foreign policy characters. We might have had an opportunity if Rumsfeld had resigned after the Schlesinger Report on Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo.

Getting rid of Rummy would not be a change based on policy and rooted in accountability based on measurable outcomes and worth; instead, they are simply mounting opposition based on accountability of his political outcomes and worth.

It is certainly not surprising for an administration that runs everything through its political arm and essentially has no policy arm, but that makes it no less disgusting.

Update: More of the same here…

Sure, I agree with Hagel that he should have handled the letters a bit differently, but that’s still a politically embarrassing thing rather than some of substance like the Humvee/Armor issue. However, I will note that Hagel seems to have the big picture right:

Hagel, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said some fellow Republicans have argued that the dispute over Rumsfeld is a matter of style over substance.

"I would suggest that those who believe that, in my party and elsewhere, they better wake up and smell the coffee," he said.