KARL ROVE’S reputation as a political genius rests primarily on his role in getting George W. Bush elected president twice. Considering the material he had to work with, that was an achievement.
But Rove has also been assumed to be one of the president’s closest advisers and a power behind the throne. If that is true, then Rove must also take at least responsibility for the unique blend of arrogance and incompetence that have marked the course of the Bush administration. Is it a mark of genius to manage your boss into disaster after disaster?
One of the requirements for a person hoping to be considered a genius is to get things right most of the time. Presidents who follow the advice of geniuses do not have disastrously low poll numbers after six years in office. Well-advised presidents do not rush into war without carefully considering the consequences. Well-advised presidents are not treated as pariahs by members of their own political party.
Rove, in his salad days, claimed to be constructing a “permanent Republican majority” that would govern the United States for decades to come. In spite of accusations made against him by political foes, Rove is no Nazi. But the endless Republican reign he envisioned was as great an act of hubris as Hitler’s thousand-year reich.
So Rove, toddling home to Texas with the thanks of a grateful president, does not wear the laurels of a genius on his thinning scalp.
That is not to deny that Rove has talent, but it is a narrow and limited talent for rough politics. He may have the face of a cherub, but he can play dirty politics with the best in the business, using half-truths and outright lies to provoke the prejudices of the voting public and throw opponents off balance. It is the kind of combative talent that is useful in making a mediocre candidate into a front-runner, but dangerous and divisive in the actual business of governing.
Bush’s decision to keep Rove on board at the White House after his first national victory was not well considered. It was as if Richard Nixon had invited Donald Segretti, his dirty trickster of Watergate fame, to be his closest adviser in running the country and conducting foreign policy. Of course, he did not. Nixon may have been paranoid, but he was not stupid.
But Bush is loyal to his Texas brain trust — the people who had been with him since his days as governor and before — and placed them in positions of national power. He has stuck by those people, notably Rove and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, even as his ratings have slipped and the divisions in the country have deepened.
But are they the ones doing the harm?
Early on, Texas journalists dubbed Rove “Bush’s brain.” The nickname has helped magnify Rove’s perceived power in the administration. At the same time, it has the effect of diminishing Bush’s perceived responsibility for the mistakes and mean-spiritedness of his administration.
Perhaps the president has not lost his brain, but his scapegoat.
Now that Rove is going, who will willingly fill that role?
citizenx (anonymous) says...
Alas, poor Turd Blossom, I knew you well.
August 16, 2007 at 3:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
It's all a set-up, regardless.
Rove resigned because MANY conservatives and/or Republicans were not happy.....with his resignation a year (or so) before the elections, the R party is hoping that a majority "forget" about Rove and/or Bush.
What's done is done. I hope it ruined any hopes for the Reps running this coming year.
Melissa
August 16, 2007 at 5:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )