cross-posted at www.progressivejunction.com
Karl Rove's name has achieved household notoriety, and has morphed into an adjective that describes the most disgraceful, atrocious, and defamatory aspects of modern political campaigning. It is safe to say that history will not be kind to Rove, not merely for his tactics, but also for his conduct, which includes but is not limited to his role in the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wrongful conviction of Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, the politicization of the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney scandal, his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, and on and on...
The list of borderline and over the line criminal incidents is seemingly endless and yet who knows how many more have yet to surface? Republicans brand him a political genius despite the fact that in order to achieve his goals, the man had to subvert or outright break the law.
Furthermore, Rove's credibility has diminished tremendously over the last two years. He was completely wrong on his prediction of the outcome of the 2006 election, and of a durable or permanent Republican majority, one that would last a generation. He also refuses to appear before congress on subpoenas to answer for his actions inside the White House. How then did this morally depraved criminal engineer two successful presidential elections? The answer is simple, he didn't.
There's a cliche in the poker world that says "it's better to be lucky than good". The phrase epitomizes Karl Rove's political career. That is not to say that Rove is not a ruthless, vengeful, and proficient political hack, he is the most proficient hack around. But even early on, in 1973 in the midst of the Watergate scandal, Rove escaped serious investigation by the FBI because, according to John Dean, "they had bigger fish to fry." His early experiences and lucky breaks motivated him to become even a better hack, where his hubris took precedence over his party and even his country.
Notwithstanding the fact that it does take a certain amount of talent and dedication to reach the point that Rove had reached by the year 1999, his success since can be summarized with a simple question: Did George Bush indisputably win the 2000 election? Because once inside the White House, the execution of dirty underhanded politics is exponentially more facile and fruitful as has been proven. But now that the conclusion of his political career has come to pass, what are the results of his so called genius?
His party is fractured and down trodden having been forced further and further to the right and alienated from the majority. His president, after having barely won both of his elections and mandating an ultra conservative agenda, is leaving office having squandered one of the best approval ratings into the worse approval rating in the history of approval ratings. His dream of a durable majority is being realized by his political enemies. And he himself is serving as a pundit for a hoax news network while he waits for several looming investigations and subpoenas. Genius indeed.