If Tuesday’s midterm elections were a referendum on whether Bush’s administration has done… If Tuesday’s midterm elections were a referendum on whether Bush’s administration has done an adequate job of managing the War in Iraq, American voters have answered — with a resounding “No.”

As predicted, Democrats swept most of the congressional elections this Tuesday, taking back control of the House of Representatives by capturing 27 GOP-held seats. They also made gains in the Senate, stealing five seats from Republican incumbents, with one still undeclared winner in Virginia, which, if granted to Democrat candidate Jim Webb, would give them a Senate majority as well.

The millions of American voters who headed to the polls this Tuesday had one issue above all others on their minds: the War in Iraq.

And the “thumpin” that the Republicans received was an obvious call for change.

Following another year of continued conflict in Iraq, with civilian and soldier death tolls increasing by the month (October was the bloodiest month yet), widespread dissatisfaction is not a surprise. Even Republicans acknowledged things were going poorly — including the president.

Yesterday, following an embarrassing and surprising (for him, at least) defeat, President Bush announced the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. While Rumsfeld’s resignation is by no means uncalled for — even the military recently expressed disapproval with his management of the war — it does come as a surprise.

Less than a week ago, when asked whether he would stay with Rumsfeld for the remainder of his presidency, Bush confirmed that he expected both Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to serve out the rest of his term. Now, the president insists that the decision to replace Rumsfeld with former CIA director Robert Gates has been in the works for a while, and the announcement was deferred until after elections in order to prevent a further loss of votes for Republicans.

By replacing Rumsfeld, Bush has conceded that his administration needs to take a new direction in Iraq. And while we strongly support the dismissal of Rumsfeld, we are disappointed that the president chose to delay this decision until after elections. If Bush had chosen to take a new direction in Iraq earlier, hundreds of lives may have been saved— yet he enthusiastically stuck with his “stay the course” policy in order to appear strong during elections.

As the new Secretary of Defense, Gates will inherit a lot of problems, and we sincerely hope that he is willing to compromise and work with others in order to come up with a bipartisan solution to Iraq. A fresh perspective is not enough if it is unilateral.

As for the Democrats — they have been granted the capital, but they now must use it. They have promised to make changes, to come up with an alternative to Bush’s “stay the course” strategy, to lead us into a more successful and peaceful era.

Democrats, we have given you the power. Don’t let us down.