A humbled Bush and leaders of the opposition Democrats, who seized control of the US House of Representatives, pledged Wednesday to work together and avoid deadlock in the last two years of his presidency.
A divisive debate looms with Democrats on record urging Bush to start pulling back US troops from Iraq by the end of 2006, while the president staunchly refuses to set a timetable.
By letting his combative, much-criticized defence secretary quit Wednesday, Bush removed both a long-standing lightning rod for Democratic criticism and a growing irritant for many in his own Republican Party, who accuse Rumsfeld of botching the war.
With centre-left Democrats in charge of the House agenda, the sharp-tongued, 74-year-old Rumsfeld could have faced hostile hearings and investigations into the conduct of the war.
Republican lawmaker Duncan Hunter said he believes Rumsfeld left 'because he sees now, with the Democrat leadership in Congress, it's going to be hard to get past what I see as personal animosities toward him, and get the job done.'
Flush with victory, Democrats acknowledged the president's primacy over foreign policy and wars, which limits their influence on Iraq.
Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat set to become the first female speaker of the House when the new Congress meets in January, said that she and Bush agreed in a phone call to work in a bipartisan spirit.
'Nowhere is that more necessary than ending the problem in Iraq,' Pelosi told reporters.
Bush signaled that he was sticking with his overall approach - fighting until 'victory,' which he defines as an Iraq that can govern, sustain and defend itself.
'I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there,' Bush said Wednesday at the White House. 'Yet I also believe most Americans and leaders here in Washington from both political parties understand we cannot accept defeat.'
There was no denying the Republican electoral defeat, which could extend to the Senate if the Democrats pick up a sixth seat that was too close to call Wednesday but leaning their way.
'It was a thumping,' Bush said.
Tasting control in the House for the first time in 12 years, Democrats vowed to press for an agenda including a fairer US economy, promoting stem-cell research and renewable energy, and restoring 'civility' to Congress after a series of Republican scandals.
With victories Tuesday in many state races, the Democrats also gathered momentum for the 2008 presidential race, when Bush is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.
Democratic national chairman Howard Dean credited a strategy that targeted voters in all 50 states, energized centre-left supporters to go to the polls and sent candidates with military backgrounds into key races for Republican-held seats.
'So I think that we have seen a new day in Democratic politics, ... that we can win and we can prepare the way for winning in the future,' Dean told reporters in Washington.
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