tinyurl.com/9cfx2 -> www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/15/BL2005091501098.html
Elisabeth Bumiller and Richard W Stevenson's story in the New York Times this mo rning: "Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction ef fort." Rove's leadership role suggests quite strikingly that any and all White H ouse decisions and pronouncements regarding the recovery from the storm are being made with their political consequences as the primary consider ation. More specifically: With an eye toward increasing the likelihood o f Republican political victories in the future, pursuing long-cherished conservative goals, and bolstering Bush's image. Rove, Bush's long-time political adviser and the "architect" of Bush's as cendancy, was rewarded after the 2004 election with a position at the Wh ite House with overt policy responsibilities. But whereas in some previo us White Houses, governance took precedence over campaigning once the el ection was safely over, Rove has shown no sign of ever putting policy go als above political ones.
Bush will take advantage of powerful imagery -- the Associated Press repo rts the speech will be held in historic Jackson Square, with the famous St. Louis Cathedral as a backdrop -- and he won't risk having anyone aro und who might disagree with him or ask an impertinent question. In fact, the AP says, there won't be a live audience at all. It will, on the other hand, feature one very unRovian tactic. Typically, it is the Democrats who are blamed for wanting to solve problems by thro wing money at them. But tonight, Bush will be the one throwing the money around. But at the same time, Bush finds himself today a deeply unpopular president accord ing to the opinion polls, particularly damaged by his lackluster respons e to the protracted, televised suffering in New Orleans. Unlike many of Bush's advisers, who have plausible deniability for his initial under-reaction because they weren't with him on vacation, Rove was tagging along with t he president, blithely touring the West Coast even as the Gulf Coast dro wned. Rove is haunted by the possibility of indictment by a federal gran d jury investigating the leak of a CIA agent. And according to Time maga zine, he was briefly hospitalized last week with painful kidney stones. Even many of the president's traditional allies say Bush -- and by extens ion, Rove -- have been off their political game. We'll know better by to morrow morning whether that continues to be the case.
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