A few weeks ago, I suggested that Secretary Rumself should resign.

Today, he did.

Let me be clear, though. This is not a celebratory moment. And I liked what the President said during his press conference — that this change in leadership should not hearten our enemies. It’s our system working. And I think that’s right.

Secretary Rumsfeld has given his life to serving his nation to the best of his ability. We should be thanking him.

As an American, I’m glad that we’re going to have new leadership at the Pentagon. I want our mission in Iraq to succeed and I hope Secretary Gates will bring the kind of leadership to make that happen.

Obviously, there are lots of political questions here: Why now? (As opposed to a week or a month or three months ago.) What prompted the President’s decision? And what are the implications beyond the obvious? It’s too soon to say. And the timing is, I admit, a little mystifying. But in the end, it’s the right decision, and doing right, whether early, late or right on time, is always a step in the right direction.

UPDATE: On the timing, I suspect that the impending report from Secretary James Baker’s Iraq Study Commission has something to do with this. Secretary Cohen just suggested that Secretary Gates will be in a strong position to work with Secretary Baker to implement the recommendations of the commission. I think that’s a good point.