Waiting Period? But I'm ANGRY NOW!--Homer Simpson
So why not weigh in for my first diary on everyone's favorite white whale: Karl Rove. (his words; h/t ThinkProgress)
There has been much speculation on the actual reasons for his leaving: a fued with Cheney, numerous legal (more accurately, illegal) entanglements on everything from Valerie Plame to AttorneyGate. We hear that Leahy is in hot pursuit, Executive privilege showdowns are looming.
At least one DKos member has speculated that he is riding to the rescue of John Cornyn and the Texas Republican party. I don't buy that for two reasons. One--considering how slow they are to admit an ACTUAL disaster, I have no reason to believe they are suddenly going to recognize one in early development. Two, I don't think Texas is a big enough stage for Karl's unique "talents".
I would like to weigh on the Genius versus Failure dialogue. As the title alludes, Karl's legacy, for better or worse, is a string of victories that ultimately are proving to be Tactical. He's won a lot of battles, but like Rommel, the empire he serves is crumbling, falling apart under the weight of its increasing detachment from reality.
Where he succeeded tactically, in my opinion, is in creating simple, focused messages, and using them in any way, no matter how ruthless, that benefitted his candidate in the short term, often by appropriating his opponents message so blatantly that corporate interests would have claimed copyright infringement. He was able to react quickly, and keep his opponents off-balance--mostly by making them defend against utterly unsubstantiated attacks that he had the dollars to keep in play. (Remember McCain in 2000, suddenly faced with Bush claiming he was a "Reformer with Results", just as McCain was riding that wave to victory.)
What we can take from this political modern-day Rommel's playbook, is to keep the message focused, simple, and always evolving. And keep our enemy on the defensive.
And for all of us who would love to see Rove get the fate he so richly deserves, wait until after Bush no longer has the power to pardon him, then prosecute with extreme prejudice.