“White House political mastermind Karl Rove surrendered a key policy role Wednesday and press secretary Scott McClellan resigned in an escalation of a Bush administration shake-up driven by Republican anxieties.” -- The Associated Press
OK, someone remind me: What policy role, exactly, is Rove relinquishing in the Big White House Shake-up? Where will his contributions be missed most?
On the newly revamped Social Security?
On the Medicare prescription drug program?
On immigration or controlling gas prices?
On Iraq?
And what substance or mechanism are they using at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to separate policy from politics anyway?
While it's been acknowledged that the Rove announcement was a concession to the poor political climate in which the President and his party find themselves, the real genius of the moment is that some people were actually convinced that something significant happened at the White House that'll make a difference. Consequently, the news of Rove's change in portfolio was big news. But if we were to start making sense we'd understand that nothing's changed -- that aside from the whiff of desperation attached to the announcement, Karl Rove will do nothing different from what he has done in five years in the administration and the five years before that: trying to figure out how to beat Democrats in elections.
When was Rove about anything other than politics? In this White House, particularly in the months and years since the Iraq War turned bad, politics is policy, and that's all that Rove has ever done. We should not get it twisted.
Maybe he has picked up a bat and walked out of the dugout for a turn at bat, but the game has been the same all along -- hardball -- and he was in it.
For Democrats reveling in the turmoil that has beset Republicans in Washington, there are two ways to look at the Rove developments: First, it might be the most obvious concession yet by White House operatives that they expect the GOP to take a beating in the November midterms because of the President's low approval ratings. Maybe, finally, panic has set in, and they wanted to show that they are taking the situation seriously. Second, this was in the playbook from the very beginning: Rove, with something up his sleeve, would announce that he was focusing on the campaign, after the seeds of Democratic destruction had already been sown. Maybe, instead of secretly organizing churches in Ohio around opposition to gay marriage, this time he was mobilizing African-Americans in Maryland and Ohio. Who knows, but whatever he's been working on, it ain't policy.
Oil prices this week jumped to more than $70 a barrel, pushing gasoline prices to an average of more than $3 a gallon in many parts of the country -- meaning a tank of gas is somewhere between $40 and $50. People are beginning to drive less. Still, the news of McClellan's departure and changes in Rove's role dominated the news. The resignation of a press secretary who never said anything and a title change for someone who isn't going to do anything different should be kept in perspective. In fairness, Congress was out of town, and the Democratic pushback was lacking.
The other important news this week was the spike in the number of Americans killed in Iraq. Thirty-one Americans died in Iraq in March, the lowest monthly toll in two years. But by mid-April, that number was already at 47, bringing the total for the war to more than 2,376. So why were we talking about Rove's new job?
The important lesson here is the power of the White House to change the subject. Admittedly the job is tougher than it used to be. But with Americans dying in Iraq and a gallon of gas costing more than a gallon of milk, it was remarkable to watch the President this week come out and stand next to McClellan and talk about how the two of them would one day return to Texas and reminesce about the glory days -- meaning now.
“One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking on chairs in Texas,” Bush said, “talking about the good old days and his time as the press secretary. And I can assure you I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, ‘job well done.'”
Rove/McCllellan was the news of the day and beyond: Some speculated about whether this was a real shake-up or a smokescreen, about whether McClellan jumped or was pushed. The point is, we are talking about them rather than what's going on in Iraq or how we're going to get to work when gas is $4 a gallon.
The question is, what will Rove have us talking about in October?
Terence Samuel is a political writer in Washington, D.C.
