Today on George Stephanopolous, Cokie Roberts mentioned that the stories coming out that Rove had told the President that he was not involved in the Plame Affair when in fact he was, have rightfully angered the President.
So Rove lied to George W. Bush, the President of the United States. So what does this mean for the administration and for America?
(I'll tell you on the flip)
First off, if you worked at McDonald's and lied to your manager, you would get fired on the spot. Not so in this White House.
The President has put loyalty at the top of the list as a requirement for job advancement under his watch. Karl Rove was the premier example to all of what a good staffer should be. With this scenario coming to light it throws everything that this White House has done into question and forces one to ask, "Who is in control of the West Wing?"
It has been well documented that the President does not read the newspapers. He doesn't watch the news and is prefers to trust his gut on decisions rather than investigate himself. He choses to be briefed by cabinet secretaries rather than going down the chain of command to explore options. The "CEO President" has created a working atmosphere in which he has neutered himself. He lives inside of a bubble and now this bubble has become his cage.
How so? Well if Rove lied to him about his involvement, then how do we know that Cheney hasn't been lying to the President in their one on one meetings? How do we know that Rumsfeld hasn't thrown a couple of fibs the President's way in the Oval Office? Hell, it took almost a week for Dan Bartlett to put together a DVD of news coverage on Katrina.
How can the President wrench control of the situation? The answers is unclear.
He needs to get in touch with his gut immediately. This insubordination in the highest office of the land is causing a deep questioning of the strength of his leadership. With this admission of Rove's involvement and the inaction on behalf of our Chief Executive, the American people have cause for a crisis of confidence.
Who controls the White House? Mr. Rove? Mr. Cheney? Mr. Dobson? Or is it Mr. Bush. Right now, it looks more like the former than the latter.