Posted by
Mantic on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 12:24:11 PM
Reading in various blogs yesterday, there was even a suggestion that Rove was the Republican Voldemort. In the WSJ this morning, the headlines indicated that there is no longer a hardball, driving force in the Republican party.
We are not privy to the inner workings of the White House. Rove was not a "shadow president" controlling Pres. Bush's every thought and action. He was an advisor. In electoral politics he was really, really good... but he was still one of many. Perhaps he was number #1, but from everything I hear, Bush is pretty much his own man, for good or ill.
Rove's departure will both be a benefit and a detriment. The Republican party in the last 8 years is much more fragmented due to actions by the Bush administration (This was brought up on Laura Ingraham's radio show this morning and discussed in some detail.) If Rove was the driving force behind immigration, then his departure will serve to strengthen the grass roots. If Rove was behind the Harriet Meiers debacle, it is just as well he leaves. There have been some pretty bone-headed moves by the Administration. We just don't know which of those were Rove's, which was Pres. Bush's or which was from one of the other 1,000 White House staffers.
Bush will not run for President again. Rove's political work with Bush is finished. He deserves a rest. History will likely portray him as a smart advisor. History, if it is impartially written, will also show how the left used Rove as a personification of everything wrong in the Republican party and used him as a hate object, as they have done with Cheney and Bush. The true story will be somewhat different.
Rove's not Voldemort. Let's get over the fact that he is gone and move on. There are lots of issues left to concentrate on.