Karl Rove Leaves Administration With Goals Unlikely to Be Met

By Edwin Chen and Catherine Dodge

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Karl Rove, the architect of President George W. Bush's two successful presidential campaigns, is quitting his White House job with little likelihood that the political agenda he set will be fulfilled.

Rove, 56, the most influential member of Bush's so-called Austin mafia of Texas intimates, played a role that's unlikely to be replicated, political experts say. In addition to mapping campaign strategy, he shaped policy and helped design the sweeping initiatives that became a Bush trademark.

While Bush, with Rove's help, succeeded in cutting taxes and revamping the federal role in public education, more recent attempts at major changes in the law -- overhauling the Social Security and immigration systems -- failed. In addition, Rove's vision of an enduring Republican majority was dealt a blow by defeats in congressional elections last November.

``There's no prospect of getting any more major legislation through'' Congress in the last 17 months of Bush's presidency, said former White House adviser David Gergen, a professor with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bush needs ``a political strategist or impresario for the upcoming fights in the fall, starting with Iraq and also the budget fights,'' Gergen said.

Rove's portfolio is likely to be taken up by two or more of the president's advisers, an acknowledgement of both Rove's unique role and the fact that his goals may no longer apply to an unpopular president who's struggling for relevance.

Splitting Up Duties

The president is ``giving some consideration'' to splitting up Rove's duties, administration spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday as Bush and Rove flew to the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The two aides most likely to see their duties expand are Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, 52, who has been with Bush since his first presidential campaign, and Counselor Ed Gillespie, 46, a former Republican National Committee chairman and top congressional aide who joined the White House only a month ago.

``I do think this will be good for Josh and Ed,'' said Andrew Card, 60, Bush's first chief of staff. The change will help the administration ``find a different stride.''

Todd Olsen, a political consultant in Austin who has known Rove for more than 20 years, said Rove's role in the administration often was ``mythologized.''

``What has made Karl chuckle is, this is the president's personality that most of the time gets assigned to Karl in terms of big ideas and wanting to get them done in a hurry,'' he said.

Staying in Touch

Rove, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Texas, said he won't be completely out of touch as Bush, 61, tries to push through his proposals on health care, energy and a renewal of the No Child Left Behind Act. Bush also is headed for battles with congressional Democrats next month on the future of the U.S. role in Iraq as well as spending priorities for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

``I'll be kibitzing from the outside -- he knows my phone number and I know his,'' Rove said.

As the two men departed the White House yesterday, Bush called Rove ``a dear friend,'' and said, ``I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit.''

The former direct-mail political consultant ran Bush's upset 1994 gubernatorial victory in Texas and has been at Bush's side ever since. After being re-elected in 2004, Bush called Rove the ``architect'' of his victory and gave him added responsibilities for developing White House policy.

He also is a lightning rod for criticism from Democrats.

`More Divided'

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the man Bush defeated in 2004, said the administration's approach to politics has left the nation ``more divided than ever before.''

``Without doubt, the architect of that political strategy was Karl Rove,'' Kerry said in a statement.

Rove was ensnared in the investigation into who leaked the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame as the administration was trying to counter critics of the war. Rove, who testified five times before the grand jury probing the case, was never charged.

More recently, Rove has come under new scrutiny by Democrats in Congress. Earlier this month, Rove refused to appear, at the president's direction, before a Senate panel investigating the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and may face a contempt of Congress citation.

Rove said the investigation didn't influence his decision.

``The subpoenas are going to keep flying my way,'' he said. ``I'm Moby Dick and we've got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab.''

Setbacks

Rove has had repeated setbacks since engineering Bush's re- election. He was the primary strategist behind Bush's failed attempt to overhaul Social Security in 2005 and was unable to break Republican resistance to the president's attempt at rewriting the nation's immigration laws. Last November, Republicans lost control of Congress to the Democrats.

``Rove's place in history is the campaign strategist who helped elect the president twice,'' said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ``His place as a White House aide has been a unique failure.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Edwin Chen in Washington, at echen32@bloomberg.net ; Catherine Dodge in Washington, at Cdodge1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 14, 2007 00:09 EDT

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