Barack's Rove

Today's Washington Post has a long article (three screens worth) on Barack Obama's version of Karl Rove, a fellow named Pete Rouse.

Pete used to be a king-maker who worked for Tom Daschle and, according to the story, is mostly responsible for turning a young first term senator from Illinois in to the best chance the Democrats have had of electing a senator since 1960.

You may remember John Kennedy was a bit of paradigm breaker himself. Young, Catholic and the first of what Tom Brokaw has called "The Greatest Generation" to take the Oval Office made JFK still one of the most enduring images of a politician in the 20th Century.

Rouse is apparently part of a wide group who Obama has gathered around himself. The graphic which the Post printed is up above and shows the many phases of the Barack moon. These folks come from all kinds of places, unlike those hovering around Sen. Clinton.

The part I really like about all these folks is they are professional political operatives not because they want power ("why, hello Karl"), they want the system to work and they see some special halo around a first-term senator who has a hell of a problem with cigarettes.

Barack is starting to convince even me he might have a shot. Maybe because I feel nostalgic for The West Wing, a show where characters wanted to do the right thing and win. The quote below came in to my head when I was reading about Rouse.

Woman in Bar: You've been a... what do you call it?
Toby Ziegler: Professional political operative.
Woman in Bar: You've been one your whole life?
Toby Ziegler: There was a while there I was in Elementary School.

Goodbye!

Karl Rove has announced "it's time" for him to spend more time with his family.

I'm sure all of the thousands of folks who are missing parts of their families in Iraq are extremely happy for him.

Enjoy your time at home Karl.

The Washington Post is portraying his life at the White House as some of type of torture with him being the survivor.

Sorry -- that was John McCain, a real hero and a man above reproach. You remember McCain I'm sure Karl? The guy you swift boated for adopting a child that wasn't white. I am not sure the same could be said for Karl, who I wrote a couple of weeks ago was living the first lines of his obituary now while still in his 50s.

Rest in peace, Karl. We knew you too well and too long.

755

No one is probably happier about Barry Bonds hitting 755 than Barry Bonds. He hits one more and the travelling circus is over.

Dump the whispers. Forget the catcalls. And until you can show me how roids make it easier to hit a baseball, the toughest task in sports, you might just need to check yourself.

I'm a Bonds fan. Have been for years. Have walked in to numerous NL parks with the man's number on my back and taken crap from all you who worship A-Rod or any of the other paragons of virtue who seem to be much holier. Seen the syringes thrown on the field, the guys with the inflatable shirts and the stupid signs which allege a never-proven claim of banned substance use.

Bonds is the Sinatra of baseball. Ol' Blue Eyes went through years when his voice was strained, damaged by Jack Daniels and overuse, or his style was out of sync with the times, Ultimately, he became one of the paragons of coolness of the 20th century and was sought after more than anyone else by young artists who wanted their shot with the great man.

Barry will probably leave baseball's stage soon and everyone will find someone lese to abuse. Maybe it's Neifi Perez who has a prescription for Adderal and then got busted on the substance abuse policy because some knucklehead said any amphetamine would work.

Maybe it's Roger Clemens who is getting a million a start for pitching baseball that my mom can hit.

Maybe it's Griffey Jr. because we expected more than his busted and abused body has been able to give.


Any way you go, Bonds has done something only three guys have done and that's hit more than 700 homers in a major league baseball uniform. Enough said

Executive privilege

Just got done reading Dan Froomkin's excellent article in the Post.

Let me get this right...

My boss asks me for my advice and because he has a very important job, I can't be held accountable for anything I suggest to him as a possible way for us to do business even if I suggest something illegal.

Of course, this only works if you're Karl Rove.

I have worked around or in government my entire adult life and I can not conceive the size of the stones you need to have to turn around and tell the Congress which was democratically elected to buzz off when they want to ask you questions about the ideas you helped to turn in to reality.

The simple answer for this whole deal is for him to walk up there and say, "yup... seemed like a good idea at the time and we blew it."

That won't happen though because Karl Rove realizes the last term-and-a-half is writing the first lines of his obituary.

There is no encore once you do what he has done. Much like fixers from the last century with names like Mark Hanna or Tom Prendergast, Rove has to realize he's done. You can only go so far. He might be able to do some consulting or writing or cash out on the lecture circuit, but he'll never cross a stage this big again.