Karl Rove of Swiftboat fame. He's at it again. The man who put W. in the White House. Who thought the city of New Orleans was worth less than a photo-op. The man who bankrupted the United States. A man who should be in jail, but is instead running around free although everyone knows where to find him.
By now we all understand Karl Rove's method of assult on John Kerry in 2004. Rove had a unique perspective on the art of political assassination - attack your opponents strengths head on. Thus, war hero John Kerry was turned into American betraying coward John Kerry thanks to Swiftboat Veterans and a nasty whisper campaign set in motion by Rove.
Today, Rove launched his latest full frontal attack on Obama's strengths from his perch at Murdoch's Wall Street Journal. In an op-ed titled "It's All About Obama", Rove states:
The candidate's self-centeredness has been on display before. Having effectively sewed up the Democratic nomination, he could have agreed to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations (states Hillary Clinton had carried). While reducing his lead by 50 to 55 delegates, it would not have altered the outcome. But Mr. Obama supported cutting these battleground-state delegations in half. At a time when magnanimity was called for, the candidate decided he'd strut.
Mr. Obama's alpha-male attitude was evident even as he stumbled towards and over the primary finish line. First, his campaign announced in May it was talking to Patti Solis Doyle after Sen. Clinton fired her as campaign manager. This served only to pour salt in the Clintons' wounds.
Rove attempting to divide and rule is nothing new, (the pathetic attempt to split women voters and Hillary supporters is bound to fail),but you should also notice the twist that it's "all about Obama".
So Barack Obama, who built a movement of millions, who enjoys exceedingly enthusiastic support, is really, ultimately all about him. His "we" means "I" according to Rove, and Rove goes on to say:
Mr. McCain will be helped if he uses Mr. Obama's actions to paint his opponent as someone driven by an all-powerful instinct to look out only for himself. In a contest over who is willing to put principle above personal ambition and self-interest, John McCain, a war hero and a former POW, wins hands down. That may not be the most important issue to voters in electing a president, but it's something they will rightly take into account.
Rove's attack that Obama is really just a self-interested, self-centered individual will be at the heart of the GOP's message this year. The assult may be a desperate, transparent attempt to dampen enthusiam, weaken support from the base, and place doubt in the minds of swing voters, but let's understand what Rove is doing here. This is a firehose approach to cooling off a hot crowd. Rove being Rove in other words, but this time we cannot afford to let it work.