With Karl Rove's announcement that he would be leaving the Bush administration, you'd think he'd committed sepuku on the White House lawn. While Karl will still be punching the clock until the end of the month, most of the editorials about him are breathless and in the past tense. Obituaries for a man beloved by the nation. Karl Rove was a genius. Karl Rove redesigned american politics. Karl Rove was a brilliant tactician. Karl Rove resurrected the GOP. With a good head start and the right shoes, Karl Rove could run up the side of the Capitol and halfway up the dome before gravity realized what he was doing.
Others have been a little more realistic. Karl is no 'genius.' He's just an electoral op who was willing to do anything to get his guy elected. From smear campaigns to Diebold machines to vote caging, Rove's a master only of dishonesty.
But don't tell that to Fred Barnes of the neocon Weekly Standard. In one of the most fawning, idiotic, and embarrassing pieces on Rove I've read, Barnes writes, "Rove is the greatest political mind of his generation -- and probably of any generation. He not only is a breathtakingly smart strategist but also a clever tactician. He knows history, understands the moods of the public, and is a visionary on matters of public policy. But he is not a magician."
Not a magician -- nor an enchanted elf nor a unicorn wrangler nor a rainbow builder. Some realism is expected even from neocons.
Even funnier than Barnes' attempt to crawl up Rove's behind and retire there was his editor's total disbelief that Karl Rove could possibly leave when he was so needed (as if all the scandals, investigations, and subpoenas piling up at the White House weren't the reason for his departure). After all, Gen. Petraeus's big announcement that we're going to have a glorious victory in Iraq is coming in September, "If I were President Bush, going into the biggest fight, arguably, of my presidency in September," William Kristol told FOX News, "I think I would want Karl Rove with me in the West Wing."
It's hard to see how Rove could be helpful. He's about dominance, not consensus. Rove, at long last, wound up playing outside his league. His skill was dirty tricks in elections, not good governance. The bully is helpless when he's outnumbered.
But maybe the worst question to ask is one that's been asked since Bush was first [s]elected -- why can't Democrats find their own Karl Rove?
To which I answer, "Oh please God no God no God no no no!"...
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