A Little Less Than a Vote of Confidence

Mybe we should've listened closely to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow last weekend when the subject of calls for Donald Rumsfeld to resign came up. In retrospect, a close reading of the White House transcript of Saturday's press briefing is pretty revealing:

Q We know what the president said in the interview with the wire services last week, and that was [Rumsfeld] was doing a fine job. But couldn't things change after the elections, depending on how they go?

MR. SNOW: The President is Commander-in-Chief. At any time he can make military decisions, and will do so; but he's expressed his confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld.