Crisis? What crisis?

In his latest Letter from Washington for the New Yorker Jeffrey Goldberg writes this:

When Rove came to Washington, after the 2000 election, he envisioned creating an enduring Republican majority—the permanent mobilization of the Party’s broad, socially conservative base. Part of his strategy was to cast as threats, in alarming terms, same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and other bogeymen of the right. It is Rove’s cleverness, combined with his joie de combat, that made him insufferable to Democrats.

Well, up to a point Lord Copper. It seems to me that though democrats may be irritated by the relish with which Rove disdains them and infuriated by his habit, until now at least, of winning, to say that they find his cleverness insufferable is preposterous. So preposterous, in fact, that only a certain kind of Washington hack hellbent on ignoring obvious truths in the name of balance, objectivity or those famous cocktail party invitations, could write this.

The "evil genius" aspect of Rove's infamy may indeed annoy liberals, but it seems more likely that most of them hate Rove because they think his politics has been profoundly damaging to the country and that, in the pursuit of electoral success, he has played upon fear and bigotry and that, perhaps most importantly, he used 9/11 as a political battering ram to cast Democrats as unpatriotic pansies for daring to have a different political viewpoint.

One may think this assessment unduly harsh or unfair but that's not the point. It seems rather unlikely that many Democrats would set all this stuff aside, acknowledging it to be part of the political hurly burly, only to be infuriated by Karl Rove's joie de combat...

Incidentally, Rove's efforts to persuade the reader that the mood at the White House is relentlessly sunny reminded me of Jim Callaghan's reply to the question  "What is your general approach, in view of the mounting chaos in the country at the moment?" during the Winter of Discontent in 1979:

"Well, that's a judgment that you are making. I promise you that if you look at it from outside, and perhaps you're taking rather a parochial view at the moment, I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos."

The following day The Sun splashed on the famous headline "CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?" Within the year Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.

Equally one may safely deduce that the proof of the scale of the problems facing the Republican party and the administration right now can be seen from the fact that Rove takes Mr Greenberg into his office in the West Wing to protest that, contrary to appearances, all is well. If that were the case there'd be no need for the interview to take place.

Still, this is reassuring isn't it?

“This is a great place to work,” he [Rove] said. “It’s inspiring to work here. It’s neat, particularly when you’ve got a boss whose attitude is ‘What can we do today to advance our goals? What are the big things we could be doing?’”

This left me asking: you mean there's more to come? Heaven help us...

Comments

[abdul rahim]

Karl Rove is misunderstood, but the public will come around.