The growing disapproval over the Iraq war and the country’s state of defense can be compared to a baseball game. The pitcher? Donald Rumsfeld, who quit as U.S. Secretary of Defense on Wednesday.
“Rumsfeld has been throwing balls, and he’s been failing. Putting Rumsfeld into the game has been a failure,” said Leigh Wolf, public relations officer for the College Republicans.
It's time the 74-year-old war manager, who was also a defense secretary under President Gerald Ford, be replaced with someone who might develop new strategies to end the conflict in Iraq, Wolf said.
The 20-year-old broadcast major is enthusiastic about Rumsfeld’s replacement, Robert Gates, who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1990’s and has had other national security positions.
“We need to hope that Robert Gates will be the pitcher to win the game,” Wolf said.
But some students are skeptical about whether the new defense secretary will bring change.
“Rumsfeld is totally out of step with this country, but I don’t know whether his replacement will be any better,” said Michelle Montoya, vice president for the California College Democrats.
The general sentiment on campus, according to students, is one of surprise and relief. However, not everyone is happy to see Rumsfeld go.
“It seemed he knew what he was doing. Now we have to start over with someone new,” said Cory Conderen, 24, a criminal justice senior. “He has been in office for a while so it just felt comfortable.”
The Democratic control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, rather than Rumsfeld’s resignation, will have a more direct effect on current defense policies, said Angelika von Wahl, a political science and international relations assistant professor.
She was thrilled to learn about Rumsfeld’s resignation in her German politics class Wednesday morning.
“It was long overdue, not only for the issue of human rights, but for President Bush and the Republican party,” von Wahl said, citing Rumsfeld’s unpopular defense policies. “It’s sort of bad for them, having him for so long.”
