Bush signals a shift toward bipartisanship

WASHINGTON -- President Bush strode into the East Room of the White House yesterday a humbled man. The nation, he acknowledged, had serious concerns about his war and his leadership. The trademark Bush cockiness was gone as he offered Democrats a trophy for their congressional victories: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"The timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon," the president said. "The message yesterday was clear: The American people want their leaders in Washington to set aside partisan differences, conduct ourselves in an ethical manner, and work together to address the challenges facing our nation."

The bombshell was received as a peace offering by wary Democrats in Congress, who had made clear on the campaign trail and in the first 12 hours of their victory that bringing about change at the Defense Department was among their top priorities.

Though Bush said he had decided to oust Rumsfeld before Tuesday's congressional elections, the timing of his announcement left the unmistakable impression that he was willing to accommodate Democrats who have long called for Rumsfeld's head.

Some Democrats and outside observers saw the move as a sign that Bush was prepared to shift strategies from the rally-the-base approach of his first six years in office, to something closer to what he referenced when he described himself on the campaign trail in 2000 as a "uniter, not a divider."

Through six years of Republican domination of the White House and Congress, Bush has largely ignored the Democrats. And some analysts believed Bush would continue to ignore even a Democratic majority in Congress in pursuing an exit strategy for the Iraq war.

But the president woke up to a changed political world yesterday, and he apparently was eager to regroup quickly to try to maintain relevance through the last two years of his presidency, said Thomas S. De Luca Jr. , chairman of the political science department at Fordham University.

"He's trying to show, over Rumsfeld's dead body, that he's heard the American people, and that he's going to stay active," De Luca said. "He seriously wants to regain the political initiative. If working with the Democrats -- or appearing to -- helps him do that, then he will."

Less than 60 minutes before Bush spoke, the Democrats' all-but-certain House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, called on Bush to demonstrate his commitment to bipartisanship by moving to "change the civilian leadership of the Pentagon."

But few expected Pelosi to score her first victory as speaker-in-waiting so quickly.

Shocked Democrats applauded the president's decision, but quickly noted that it will be meaningful only if the new defense secretary brings with him a new policy in Iraq.

"If the vote of last night from all over America didn't accomplish anything else but this, it was a good night," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

At yesterday's news conference, Bush flatly declared the elections to be a "thumping." He expressed respect for Pelosi and Reid -- a sharp break from his assertions on the campaign trail that a victory for Democrats would be a victory for terrorists.

Bush reminded reporters of his days as Texas governor, when he worked across party lines with Democrats in the Legislature -- an aspect of his biography that he hasn't stressed since winning the 2000 election.

"When I first came to Washington nearly six years ago, I was hopeful I could help change the tone here in the capital," Bush said. "While we made some progress on changing the tone, I'm disappointed we haven't made more. I'm confident that we can work together."

He said a Democratic Congress could help him deliver on his proposal for comprehensive immigration reform.

The president called for a new, bipartisan dialogue on entitlement programs, after Democrats blocked his plan for partial privatization of Social Security last year.

Republicans lost control of the Senate for an 18-month period early in Bush's first term, but that era was defined by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and its bipartisan aftermath.

Democratic leaders will meet with Bush today at the White House, as the two sides seek to craft a new working relationship.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that while jettisoning Rumsfeld is important "substantively and symbolically," it doesn't accomplish the difficult work of ending the war.

"Iraq has always been and remains much bigger than Secretary Rumsfeld," Biden said. "The proof will be in the president's policies, not the administration's personalities."