I guess I shouldn't joke about this subject, but more than any one cabinet member in history, Donald Rumsfeld has consolidated power unto himself. Robert Novak, in his article today, traced Rumsfeld's recent consolidation of power in the Army, culminating in his dismissal of the Secretary of the Army, Thomas White.
He closes his article saying, "No previous secretary of defense has approached Don Rumsfeld's authority or audacity. He brought exile Ahmad Chalabi to Iraq against Colin Powell's wishes and without his knowledge. He is regarded as the hidden hand behind the assault on Powell by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has become Rumsfeld's confidante. Now, Rumsfeld's Army adversaries soon will be gone."
Novak does use strikingly non-judgmental language to describe Rumsfeld's takeover.
I also find it ironic that Rumsfeld is doing all this in order to force upon the military a smaller more-streamlined army. As Novak puts it, "Rumsfeld is forcing a thinner Army, and does not want a service secretary allied with "dinosaur" generals backing "heavy" forces with plenty of armor and artillery." Kind of a different view than you normally get from conservatives, who talk about Clinton starving the Military, while President Bush has restored it's honor.
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