Rove loses power, but the Bubble remains intact

April 19, 2006

Newsweek’s [tag]Howard Fineman[/tag] takes a relatively helpful big-picture look at this morning’s events in the White House and suggests [tag]Josh Bolten[/tag] is the big winner — because he’ll go home tonight with more [tag]power[/tag], and [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] will go home with less.

In the snakepit of the White House — any [tag]White House[/tag] — power is a zero sum game. Bolten has demonstrated his clout by taking some away from the Empire of Rove. Forget trying to play policy expert, Bolten told [tag]Rove[/tag]. Go back to focusing on what you do best: building and running a Republican election machine.

And, by the way, if the [tag]Republicans[/tag] lose the Congress in [tag]2006[/tag], it’s gonna be your fault, Karl — not the president’s.

By ripping a star from Rove’s epaulet — the first time Rove has ever lost, rather than acquired, power in the Bush circle — Bolten showed that he can be effective, that he can influence events.

I think this is largely right. [tag]Andy Card[/tag] was the White House Chief of Staff, but nearly everyone saw Karl Rove as the real player. Card was a glorified intern, effectively taking on the role of Bush’s “manservant,” whereas Rove was taking on key domestic and foreign policy responsibilities. It’s hard to imagine a scenario whereby Card takes away some of Rove’s power the way Bolten did today.

Whether that makes him “effective,” as Fineman suggests, is another question entirely. Bolten recognized the need for some kind of change, so McClellan is gone, Portman gets a promotion, and Rove is back to campaign duty. But this “new” dynamic suggests the “old” problems aren’t going away. Indeed, they’re even more obvious.

Josh noted this morning, “This ‘shake-up’ has yet to see anyone actually penetrate the Bush White House bubble.” Quite right. The whole point of staff shake-ups is to bring in new people with fresh ideas who are not vested in the old way of doing things. At least so far, Bush has traded one loyal staffer who’s been around for years for another in all of the key posts (CoS, Deputy CoS, OMB, Trade Rep.) that have, to date, made up the game of musical chairs we’ve seen unfold this week.

It’s possible, as Josh suggests, that no one outside the White House wants to get on board a sinking ship, so promoting from within becomes unavoidable. Maybe, but given what we’ve seen, I think it’s just as likely, if not more so, that an arrogant, insular White House wants to keep everything “in the family” because outsiders haven’t proven themselves sufficiently loyal to Team Bush.

April 19, 2006 at 2:42 pm

“And, by the way, if the Republicans lose the Congress in 2006, it’s gonna be your fault, Karl — not the president’s.” – Howard Fineman

Now where did I read such a sentiment today?

Oh, yah! About three threads ago, wasn’t it?

It’s a snow-globe shakeup. You shake what’s allready in there around a little, and it looks pretty for a while, but in the end nothing new has been added and nothing has changed.

“Maybe, but given what we’ve seen, I think it’s just as likely, if not more so, that an arrogant, insular White House wants to keep everything “in the family” because outsiders haven’t proven themselves sufficiently loyal to Team Bush. ”

Perhaps. Another view would be that the policy/political positions taken by the WH over the last 5 years are as ingrained in Bush’s mind as they would be as if etched in solid granite. Sure, he’s not very bright, knowledgeable or articulate, but Bush can at least make a passing effort at fielding questions regarding his policies. The same talking points and stock responses I heard in the first few years of this administration are still being bandied about to this day. Bringing in new staff, who might presumably introduce–gasp–new ideas would mean a whole new vocabulary for Bush to memorize. That would entail new talking points, new stock responses, and new ways to dodge unfamiliar questions on these topics. That’s asking alot for this particular president.

Besides, it’s not like he’s running a political campaign anytime soon, which unfortunately has been the only thing he’s effective at. What does he care if his poll numbers tank?

That’s a lot of baloney. We’re just meant to think Rove lost power while he spends all of his time getting ready to nail the Democrats. The Republicans are not going to lose the House. They control the voting mahcines, remember?

Not everywhere, they don’t. We’ll only have to hope that exit polls can point us to the trouble spots when they do happen.

There’s a similarity between Bush Sr. and Junior. James A. Baker III stepped down as Secretary of State to lead the elder Bush’s re-election campaign in 1992. We all know how well that worked. Let’s hope it works at least as well for W. and Karl Rove. But if I were a Democrat running for Congress, I’d be very, very nervous with this announcement.

I think CB is right on the insularity of the Bush White House. With so many crises and crises in the making, I think there are enough sane, rational and intelligentRepublicans who would accept a position at the White House if only to wrest control away from the crazies. Bush has never valued sane, rational or intelligent, so we’re stuck with the White House playing Musical Chairs.

I’m not sure this is that big of a change. The only thing the Bush WH has “won” since getting into office is elections, everything else has been a loser. So if Rove “leaves” to go try and save the 2006 midterms, would it really be anything different than what he was doing? This may imply that the WH will now formulate and enact policy, but I’ll believe it when I see it. This WH has been nothing but crass politics above everything else.

I agree with Josh Marshall’s viewpoint. Bolten may be making changes, but its only spraying air freshener after the dog crapped on the carpet: there’s no indication they’re actually going to clean up the pile of crap. Wholesale changes to the staff and cabinet could create some heroes for turning Bush’s freefall around, but that’s not going to happen by moving around the kool aid drinkers. This is typical Bush strategy … make noise with PR gestures but do nothing substantive.

How much longer until our Furhrer, who is just slightly more popular than the bird flu, retreats to his bunker? Isn’t that how the script goes? Hitler wouldn’t listen to his generals because he didn’t like what he heard from them so he made up his own “reality” with only a few people as his contacts. When will Chinese president Hu Jintao meet with US president Dung Heap about exporting the remaining jobs in America?

anyone who cared a fig for history’s judgment of the bush administrations would fire karl rove in an instant.

that’s not going to happen.

why?

because the white house and the right-wing republican party

are all about getting power

and holding onto power.

that is what rove is good at;

in fact,

it’s all that rove is good at .

rove has proved himself incompetent to rule;

incompetent to govern!

as is his master,

our president.

The MSM seems to be giving the impression that it’s surprising to see Karl Rove has been removed from his policy advisor position. Nonetheless, there is little doubt as to the meaning of Rove’s role change. Frankly, given the shambles of a policy plan being run by this administration, together with the unlikelihood that any new legislation of significance can be passed in the run-up to the mid-term election, the calculation was that Rove could better serve the Republican Party in full campaign mode.

Truthfully, why use Rove as a policy advisor when his real talent is as a political strategist (hack). The White House is simply acknowledging this well-known fact. Additionally, Republicans realize that standing on ceremony and titles won’t win the upcoming elections. The change is simply about expediency. While I enjoy thinking he’s getting a bit of a spanking, I don’t buy it.

Bush is trying to demonstrate to Republicans up for reelection that he has their backs and is moving to help get them reelected…and how better to demonstrate that than getting Karl Rove focused on a strategy for the Party. The architect hasn’t been cast aside as a lowly carpenter…he’s being asked to build something out of nothing…and he’s pretty darn good at that.