Sometimes honesty is the best policy. And since he meets with Rumsfeld on a regular basis, he could have given him a heads up. He had already interview Gates for the DefSec position, so he obviously was dissatisfied with Rumsfeld's performance.
I just wish he would have announced it prior to the election. A lot of good people like Rep. Ann Northrup were left twisting in the wind.
Are you certain of that assertion? The statement President Bush made in the press conference contradicts it.
Quoting from the article (which is what I heard the President say in the press conference):
"The president added that he had not made a definitive decision because he had not held his "last" conversation with Rumsfeld and had not yet spoken to Robert Gates, his nominee to take over the Pentagon."