[Rodeo]

Rumsfeld's poor performance can be attributed to the same things that have badly hobbled this administration's performance on a wide variety of issues -- hubris, arrogance, rigid ideology and politics.

The key members of the administration seem to have an almost pathological self-confidence that makes them blind to their mistakes, and therefore incapable of adjusting. Couple that with some sense of entitlement, that they belong there under a mandate from the heavens. Then mix it together with a rigid ideology and the fact that Karl Rove sits in a policy chair, so political considerations heavily influence every policy they undertake, and the end result is Iraq and its domestic counterpart, Katrina.

There's one competent person at a senior positon in the White House, and that's Karl Rove. Unfortunately he's competent at politics, not governing.