Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, blamed the administration's policy failures on ``inexplicable opposition'' from the Democrats and said he built bipartisan coalitions to get laws passed.

Rove, in an interview on ``Fox News Sunday,'' rejected accusations that his tactics polarized the nation and led to the failure of many of Bush's policy goals, including Social Security and immigration reform.

``I don't accept that we didn't build coalitions. We built coalitions to pass the energy bill, the tax cuts, the Patriot Act,'' Rove said. ``I've had many Democrats come to me and say we'd love to work with you on Social Security but my leadership won't let me.''

Rove, who last week announced he will resign on Aug. 31, spoke to Fox as part of a parting media blitz during which he has defended his own legacy and attacked Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton as being unfit to become president. He repeated many of those statements today.

Rove said he's become a target for Democrats who believe he controls the president. ``I'm a myth, I'm Beowulf, I'm Grendel. They're after me,'' he said.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said Rove and the Bush administration will be judged on the eventual outcome of the Iraq war.

Iraq War

``The president's going to be judged on what happens, in the war in Iraq,'' McCain said in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation. ``And if we are able to succeed, which I think we will, then both he and the president, I think history will have a favorable opinion of them.''

Rove defended his broadside attacks against Democrats and his party's campaign tactics, including using the Sept. 11 terror attacks for political gain.

``I'll defend it every step of the way,'' Rove said. ``The Democrats can routinely question the president's integrity and call him a liar. But when we call the Democrats about their statements'' that's somehow wrong, he said.

In the half-hour long Fox interview, Rove refused to answer questions about his role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year, saying the constitution's separation of powers bars him from revealing advice he gives to the president.

``You're being an agent of Congress when you ask that question,'' Rove told Fox's Chris Wallace. ``What I told the president, what actions happened in the White House, are privileged.''

Plame Lawsuit

Rove also declined to provide any new information about his role in the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, saying Plame's lawsuit against him, which was dismissed, might be appealed.

Rove said the Republican Party is ``a little bit behind the curve'' going into the 2008 election ``because we're in an unpopular war and because we got defeated in the last elections.''

``It's going to be a tough, contentious election year,'' Rove said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program. Rove said he doesn't intend to join any Republican presidential campaign.

He repeated his assessment that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination for president and that it will be hard for her to win the general election because she has ``higher negatives than any candidate in history.''

``It's hard to do much to change people's attitudes about you,'' Rove said. ``It can be done but it's difficult.''

Clinton, during today's debate among Democratic presidential candidates on ABC News, said Rove is ``obsessed with me.''

``I think the reason is because we know how to win,'' the senator from New York said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at afitzgerald2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 19, 2007 16:32 EDT