THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA may have trouble resisting the temptation to declare that Karl Rove has been demoted, but the truth is quite the contrary. By giving up his role as deputy White House chief of staff, Rove has been freed to do what he does best: shape big issues and develop strategies to win elections.
In the mini-shuffle announced yesterday, Rove was a winner. No longer will he have to honcho a tedious policy process at the White House, which he’s been doing in President Bush’s second term. He now will resume the freewheeling role and significant, but limited, responsibilities he held during the first term. At the moment, he has two broad responsibilities: handling macro issues like taxes and immigration and planning for the election on November 7.
When Rove’s job change was announced, it spread fear among the immigrant groups that are lobbying for immigration reform. Initial press reports indicated he’d be giving up any policy role. Not so. Rove still has the assignment of working on a compromise on immigration legislation acceptable to Bush and to a majority of congressional Republicans.
And by the way, Rove will have an even friendlier ally as White House chief of staff. The outgoing chief, Andy Card, was occasionally quoted as suggesting that Rove had amassed too much power at the White House. The new chief, Josh Bolten, appears not to feel that way and happens to be a close friend of Rove.
Two more things became clear yesterday as the White House attempts to pull out of a prolonged second term slump. The first is that the most sweeping changes on the president’s staff will involve the communications operation. This began with yesterday’s resignation by press secretary Scott McClellan.
More departures of communications staffers are expected. McClellan’s time with Bush goes back to the 1990s, when Bush was governor of Texas. Bush hates to fire anyone, but he was forced to accept the fact that McClellan was ill equipped for the touchy press secretary’s job. Bush–or rather Bolten, who has been given carte blanche to overhaul the White House staff–must choose a replacement for McClellan. Both Dan Senor, who was American envoy Paul Bremer’s spokesman in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, and Fox News anchor and talk radio host Tony Snow have been approached about the job. Tory Clarke, the former Defense Department flack, is said to have dropped out of the running.
The second aspect that became clear is that the shakeup of the Bush staff may not be as drastic as once thought. For instance, the economic chief on the White House staff, Al Hubbard, will stay in that post. And Candida Wolfe, the president’s top lobbyist on Capitol Hill, may retain her job, despite criticism of her performance by a few Republican members of Congress.
The changes are not likely to constitute a facelift that gives the Bush administration an entirely new look. Such a makeover would risk making the president appear desperate. A far-reaching transformation had been proposed–by me, anyway–as a way to rejuvenate the Bush presidency, shock the media and the political community, and dominate the news for weeks. Instead, Bolten is taking a more prudent, gradual and, in the cases of Rove and McClellan, sensible approach.
Rove’s goal now is simple. He must produce a mix of policies and political initiatives to prevent a Democratic takeover of the House or Senate in this fall’s midterm election. Should he fail, the White House would probably be subjected to two years of torment by a Democratic Congress.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard and author of Rebel-in-Chief (Crown Forum).
