Rove Refocused

Howard Dean might be crowing in public but I'd doubt that he's happy that Karl Rove is refocusing on building the Republican Party.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove gave up some of his responsibilities and White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation Wednesday, continuing a shake-up in President Bush's administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff. Rove is giving up oversight of policy development to focus more on politics with the approach of the fall midterm elections.
Karl Rove is one of the most brilliant political minds ever to occupy the political landscape. It's obvious in hindsight that serving as Deputy White House Chief of Staff caused him to lose focus on the thing that he does best: create and build GOP majorities. He's now liberated to put this administration and party back on the right track so that the GOP can maintain control of the House and Senate.

Here's another tidbit that's bound to create some news:
Appearing with Bush on the South Lawn, McClellan, who has parried especially fiercely with reporters on Iraq and on intelligence issues, told Bush: "I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary."

Bush said McClellan had "a challenging assignment. I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity," the president said. "It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it. One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days." McClellan is expected to remain in his job until a successor is named. Among those under consideration are Tony Snow, a former White House speechwriter under the first President Bush, former Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke and Dan Senor, a former coalition spokesman after the invasion of Iraq, according to Republican officials.
Please let Tony Snow be the next Press Secretary. He's feisty yet likeable. He's respected in Washington. Most importantly, he's always connected with the average person because he's a common sense person with a great love of life. That isn't to disrespect Victoria Clarke or Dan Senor. Instead, it's praise for Tony.

At the day's end, having "The Architect" plotting Democrats' demise and Tony Snow articulating the White House message should be a formidable team for the midterm elections.

What's a White House shakeup story without a Deanism thrown in and response?
"The president has abundant reason to fire Karl Rove," said Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean.

Seven months before a tough Election Day test, Bush thinks he has abundant reason to keep Rove.
I'd say that Bush's political instincts are right about this.

Cross-posted at California Conservative

Posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006 3:53 PM

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