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by BooMan
There appears to be something of a coup going on within the White House. According to Think Progress, the subscription only White House Bulletin reported today that Karl Rove may be on his way out.
Three reasons are cited:
The election yesterday of Sen. Trent Lott to the number two GOP leadership position in the Senate is also a threat to the White House and Rove, who worked against him when he battled to save his majority leader’s job after his insensitive remarks about Sen. Strom Thurmond. ...Bush counsel Harriet Miers isn’t a fan, believing that Rove didn’t do enough to help her failed Supreme Court nomination among conservatives. In fact, one top West Wing advisor said that the unexpected ouster of Rove aide Susan Ralston over ethics questions was orchestrated by Miers as a signal to Rove to leave. In my last post, I revisited a 2003 Ron Suskind article and I want to use it again here to give some context to what this might mean. The Suskind article was written in January 2003, right after the GOP took firm control of both houses of Congress. Here is how Suskind described the influence of Rove at that time.
At the moment when one-party rule returns to Washington—a state that existed, in fact, in the first five months of the Bush presidency, before Senator Jeffords switched parties—we are offered a rare view of the way this White House works. The issue of how the administration decides what to do with its mandate—and where political calculation figures in that mix—has never been so important to consider. This White House will now be able to do precisely what it wants. To understand the implications of this, you must understand Karl Rove. I'm going to quote a little more here to give further context.
In visiting the White House frequently from February to April of this past year, I interviewed much of the senior staff, as well as the First Lady. No one would utter so much as a word about Rove. They’d talk about one another, assessing the strengths, weaknesses, and specific roles of Hughes, Card, deputy chief of staff Josh Bolten, media adviser Mark McKinnon, communications chief Dan Bartlett, Cheney aide Mary Matalin, national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, the vice-president, and, of course, the president himself. When I’d mention Rove, the reaction was always the same: "I can’t really talk about Karl." It was odd; it was extraordinary. And here is how Bill Kristol saw things back then:
"I believe Karl is Bush. They’re not separate, each of them freestanding, with distinct agendas, as some people say. Karl thinks X. Bush thinks X. Clearly, it’s a very complicated relationship." So, the very idea that Karl Rove might be on his way out signifies something truly revolutionary is happening within the halls of the White House. If Karl is Bush and Karl is on the way out, then what does that mean for Bush? This would literally be an example of the grown-ups stepping in to take over for the crown prince. And it isn't that hard to figure out why. Take a look at what Steven Clemons has to say about his dinner engagement two nights ago.
Sometimes in Washington after years of networking and bridge-building, doors are opened to some extraordinary meetings where elite political players and policy makers really do discuss how to govern the world while sipping wine. With Rumsfeld gone, Rove possibly gone, it's hard to recognize the old Bush administration. Iraq was always going to get to the point where we had "exhausted what...was possible" someday. It appears the big boys have finally decided to do something about it, even though there is nothing obvious that can be done. The first step is in marginalizing the people that got us into the mess in the first place. Now that there is nothing political to gain or lose from hewing to Rove's talking points, there is no further need for him. But I'm not so sure that Rove will go so easily. After all, remember how he operates.
Eventually, I met with Rove. I arrived at his office a few minutes early, just in time to witness the Rove Treatment, which, like LBJ’s famous browbeating style, is becoming legend but is seldom reported. Rove’s assistant, Susan Ralston, said he’d be just a minute. She’s very nice, witty and polite. Over her shoulder was a small back room where a few young men were toiling away. I squeezed into a chair near the open door to Rove’s modest chamber, my back against his doorframe. If a wedge has opened now between Bush and Rove, it signals an earthshaking change in the power structure in Washington DC.
Is Rove on His Way Out? | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Is Rove on His Way Out? | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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