Rove's Dismal Legacy

What Rove Said

Here's Gigot's write-up of the Rove interview: "He's resigning effective Aug. 31 -- 14 years after he began working with Mr. Bush on his campaign for Texas governor, 10 years after they began planning a White House run, and after 79 months in the political cockpit of a tumultuous presidency. . . .

"What about those who say he's leaving to avoid Congressional scrutiny? 'I know they'll say that,' he says, 'But I'm not going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob.' He also knows he'll continue to be a target, even from afar, since belief in his influence over every Administration decision has become, well, faith-based.

"'I'm a myth. There's the Mark of Rove,' he says, with a bemused air. 'I read about some of the things I'm supposed to have done, and I have to try not to laugh.' He says the real target is Mr. Bush, whom many Democrats have never accepted as a legitimate president and 'never will.'"

Rove has lots of predictions for the future -- even though the White House record for such predictions has been quite poor of late.

Gigot writes: "'He will move back up in the polls,' says Mr. Rove, who interrupts my reference to Mr. Bush's 30% approval rating by saying it's heading close to '40%,' and 'higher than Congress.'

"Looking ahead, he adds, 'Iraq will be in a better place' as the surge continues. Come the autumn, too, 'we'll see in the battle over FISA' -- the wiretapping of foreign terrorists -- 'a fissure in the Democratic Party.' Also in the fall, 'the budget fight will have been fought to our advantage,' helping the GOP restore, through a series of presidential vetoes, its brand name on spending restraint and taxes. . . .

"What about that new GOP William McKinley-style majority he hoped to build -- isn't that now in tatters, as the country tilts leftward on security, economics and the culture? Again, Mr. Rove disagrees. He says young people are if anything more pro-life and free-market than older Americans, and that, despite the difficulties in Iraq, the country doesn't want to be defeated there or in the fight against Islamic terror. He recalls how Democrats thought driving the U.S. out of Vietnam would also help them politically. 'Instead, Democrats have suffered ever since on national security,' he says."

Rove "has no specific job plans, save to write a book on the Bush years, which 'the boss,' as in Mr. Bush, 'has encouraged me to do.' As for what his own White House mistakes have been, Mr. Rove winces and says, 'I'll put my feet up in September and think about that.'"

The Rove Archives

Rove has of course been a key figure in this column ever since it was launched in January 2004. Here are some highlights from Bush's second term.

Back on Feb. 9, 2005, I noted Bush's decision to give Rove a new title: Deputy chief of staff for policy. Or, as I wrote: "Karl Rove is now, officially, in charge of pretty much everything at the White House. But it's mostly just a title change. . . .

"Rove was already officially in charge of strategic planning, political affairs, liaison to outside groups and intergovernmental affairs. Now he'll also be in charge of coordinating the policies of the National Security Council, the Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council and the Homeland Security Council."

On June 23, 2005, I wrote about how Rove had become one of the first members of the administration to suggest openly that liberals sympathize with the enemy and are intent on endangering American troops.