McClellan's gone. Here's Sidney Blumenthal's mean, but rather apt take:
McClellan is a flea on the windshield of history. On the podium, he performed his duty as a slow-flying object swatted by a frustrated and flustered press corps. Inexpressive, occasionally inarticulate and displaying a limited vocabulary, his virtue was his unwavering discipline in sticking to his uninformative talking points, fending off pesky reporters, and defending the president and all the president's men to the last full measure of his devotion. Inside the Bush White House, he was a non-player, a factotum, the instrument of Karl Rove, Bush's chief political strategist and deputy chief of staff. McClellan played no part in the inner councils of state. He was the blank wall erected in front of the press to obstruct them from seeing what was on the other side. McClellan's stoic façade was unmatched by a stoic interior. He was a vessel for his masters, did whatever he was told, put out disinformation without objection, and was willing to defend any travesty. He is the ultimate dispensable man.
Regarding Rove's "role reduction", I think, with others, that the most important thing in Bush's future now is the Congressional elections this Fall. If Bush loses his majorities in either house, his goose is cooked. So Rove's reassignment is hardly a demotion, but rather giving him the most important political job this administration has--making sure the GOP maintains its Congressional majorities. This is his forte. This is where he excels--doing whatever it takes to get his people elected. Nothing is more important to the Bush presidency this year.