Rove Moves on to Election Duties

The Bush administration’s second-term partial shuffle isn’t about to address the real problems in the White House. The departure of a non-entity chief of staff and the replacement of the designated deceiver of the press aren’t enough. However, the move of Karl Rove out of domestic policy signals that the president’s coterie knows the crisis is upon them. Mr. Bush is pulling out the biggest gun he has to save his presidency in November’s elections.

Mr. Rove is, of course, called “Bush’s Brain” for a reason. The man knows how to win elections, or as his detractors might put it, “steal them.” His position as deputy chief of staff for domestic policy, responsibility he got after the 2004 vote, was never really a fit. Mr. Rove is more comfortable energizing the base, raising the money and smearing opponents than doing the difficult intellectual work of governing by achievement.

This is not, however, his fault. The American political system is dysfunctional in that it takes one set of skills to win office in a rather polarized society and quite another set of skills to get policy turned into legislation and then into law. Indeed, the sets are almost mutually exclusive. The people best suited for winning 50%+1 of the vote are the least likely to put together a compromise on a budget, an education plan or a tax code change.

None of that matters right now to the GOP. Mr. Bush is in deep trouble if the Democrats gain control of either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Thus far, he has gotten away with his bungling and duplicity because Congress has been unwilling to question him. Democratic committee chairmen with subpoena power could change that. Televised hearings on 9/11, Valerie Plame, Halliburton and so on would essentially cripple the White House, and for two more years, the GOP would have to play defense – which is not the way to win the 2008 presidential race.

So, Mr. Rove has been “demoted” from his position in policy making and given the time to focus on winning seats in Congress. If he succeeds, the Bush Presidency will have a couple of years to fix itself, and if he fails, the GOP could be in opposition for years. Like Napoleon committing the Imperial Guard at Austerlitz and Jena, Mr. Bush is putting Mr. Rove on the frontlines to conquer. If he can’t do it, no one can. This journal isn’t sure which is worse, a Bush administration that is finished before its sixth year ends, or one that has two more years to continue its mismanagement of the nation’s business. In either case, the Busheviks have played their trump card.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home