Lessons of the Master: Rove

Lessons of the Master

By Tobin Harshaw, NYTimes Online

Tags: Barack Obama, Elections 2008,
Karl Rove
In a Wall Street Journal column, Karl
Rove, author of the Bush-Cheney playbooks of 2000 and 2004, shows a great deal
of admiration for the Obama campaign (and, implicitly, for Karl Rove): “For
a campaign that says it wants to end the politics of the Bush-Cheney years, the
Obama for President effort has cribbed an awful lot from the Bush-Cheney
playbooks of 2000 and 2004.”
The staff at the Democratic Strategist thinks flattery is the cheapest form of envy:
While there is a grain of truth to that part of Rove’s argument, low-tech
versions of such GOTV tactics have been around for a while. Rove is on even
shakier ground in claiming credit for pioneering the use of internet tools, and
when he critiques elements of Obama’s strategy, you have to wonder if he’s
really afraid it is working…
The article concludes, predictably enough, with a barrage of cheap shots
about the perils of flip-flopping, as if McCain was immune to the charge.
Coming from the architect of the G.O.P.’s ‘06 debacle, it’s another encouraging
sign that the Obama campaign is on the right track.
Meanwhile, Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics, who’s much closer to Rove on
the ideological scale, also has some quibbles:
Though Rove suggests the pace at which Obama is moving to the center is
problematic, I think it’s probably a wise move. Instead of dragging out a host
of position changes in dribs and drabs over the summer, he’s performing the
political equivalent of tearing off a band aid …
Certainly, the saturation media coverage and level of engagement this year
is generating an above average level of scrutiny for Obama’s push to the middle
— though many would still argue he’s not getting nearly the scrutiny he
deserves — but the speed at which the campaign moves is working in Obama’s
favor … By the time Election Day rolls around, it’ll feel like he’s held his
new, improved centrist positions forever.