Transportation Secretary Mineta resigns

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is resigning, effective July 7, the White House said Friday.

Well, Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta resigned--the only Democrat in President Bush's cabinet. Okay, so Mineta was a token Democrat in an extreme neoconservative White House. And Mineta was running an obscure department that the president could probably care less about--it certainly wasn't the top departments of Defense, State, or even midlevel department such as Education of which the Republicans love to politically demonize. I will say that Mineta did his job, and served his country to the best of his ability. My question to ask is, will Mineta be remembered for his work as both a congressman, and as Secretaries of Commerce and Transportation? Or will he be remembered as the token Democrat in a corrupt and extremist Bush administration?

Here's the story on CNN.Com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the only Democrat in the Bush Cabinet, is resigning next month.

White House spokesman Tony Snow made the announcement at the White House briefing on Friday. He said Mineta wasn't forced out of the job and that the president was "happy" with him.

"He has informed the president that after five and a half years he will be stepping down," Snow said, adding "that's a long time."

Mineta's resignation will be effective July 7.

His biography on the Transportation Department's Web site said he is "the longest serving secretary in the history of the U.S. Department of Transportation, becoming the 14th Secretary of Transportation on January 25, 2001."

Before he joined President Bush's administration, Mineta, 74, served as secretary of commerce under President Clinton.

"He was also the first Asian-American Cabinet member during the Clinton administration, and the first Cabinet member to switch directly from a Democratic to a Republican Cabinet," the bio said.

He was a member of the House from 1975 to 1995, representing a district in California's Silicon Valley.

"Secretary Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced from their homes and into internment camps during World War II," the biography said.