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Why the 'Rove Presidency' Failed

Posted Aug 13, 07 10:07 AM CDT in US,  Politics,  Opinion 

(Newser) – With Karl Rove about to ankle the White House, the Atlantic's cover story on Rove as the principal architect of the Bush presidency becomes prescient. Joshua Green explores why the mastermind of W.'s two election victories—one of the best political minds of a generation—was unable to fulfill any of his considerable ambitions for the occupant of the Oval Office, despite having a Republican Congress for six years.

Rove convinced his boss to hand him the domestic policy reins, but found out that he had all the wrong instincts for working with lawmakers—cowing Congress instead of winning it, choosing divisiveness at every turn. And while he is an admirably acute analyst of history, Green writes, Rove was a poor student when it came to the art of pulling its levers.

Source Atlantic Monthly

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White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, center, watches as President Bush speaks at the White House in Washington in this Nov. 6, 2002, file photo. Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political...   (Associated Press)
President Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, right, departs the White House with the president in this July 14, 2005, file photo. Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political strategist,...   (Associated Press)
President Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove, left, and counselor to the president Ed Gillespie, enter the Blair House for a going away party for budget director Rob Portman in Washington, Wednesday,...   (Associated Press)
White House political adviser Karl Rove, right, laughs as he walks with Bill McGurn, Assistant to the President for Speech Writing, left, as they leave the White House in Washington, Friday, May 11, 2007,...   (Associated Press)
White House political adviser Karl Rove, center, laughs as he walks with Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch, right, and Bill McGurn, Assistant to the President for Speech Writing, left, as...   (Associated Press)
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove walks out of the White House to board Marine One, Wednesday, July 4, 2007, with President Bush on their way to visit West Virginia for the Fourth of July. ...   (Associated Press)
White House political strategist Karl Rove speaks during the Lincoln Day dinner for the Tuscarawas County Republican Party, Wednesday, April 18, 2007, in New Philadelphia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)   (Associated Press)
Karl Rove addresses the Jackson County Lincoln Day dinner in Jackson, Mich. in this March 24, 2007, file photo. The White House acknowledges it cannot find four years' worth of e-mails from Rove, thrusting...   (Associated Press)
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