It's tough to keep up on the rules dictating political debate right now -- is criticism of U.S. generals allowed? -- but Slate's Fred Kaplan has a good piece on Gen. Peter Pace's departure as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kaplan argues, persuasively, that Pace's involuntary exit marks the end of the "Rumsfeld era."

Pace was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the last two years. Gates decided not to renew the general's term, despite Pace's request for another. The public rationale was that Gates wanted to avoid "very contentious" confirmation hearings. There's clearly something to this. Not only was Pace the last senior official still associated with early decisions on the war (he was the JCS vice chairman at the time of the invasion), he also recently said in public that gays shouldn't be in the military because homosexual acts were "immoral."

But the larger import of Pace's forced retirement -- the message that many officers heard clearly, whatever Gates' intention -- is that the sorts of generals who behave as Pace did the past few years are no longer desired in the Pentagon's inner sanctum.

Pace was a decorated Marine who by all accounts fought valiantly in Vietnam and treated his troops well. But when he entered the Pentagon, he adapted all too eagerly to the ways of the "political general." By statute, the chairman of the JCS is supposed to offer independent military advice to the secretary of defense and the president. Yet Pace became, in essence, a suck-up. His underlings mocked him, behind his back, as "Perfect Pete." He was exactly the sort of chairman that Rumsfeld wanted -- and, apparently, Gates does not.

I guess the "Pace for President" effort may have a little trouble getting off the ground.