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Rove Reaction: From 'Big Loss' to 'No Loss' Randy Hall, CNSNews.com Reaction to Karl Rove's announcement on Monday that he is stepping down as President Bush's deputy chief of staff at the end of the month came from across the political spectrum, with a White House staffer saying Rove "will be greatly missed" while Democrats charged he "left the country more divided" than before. "Obviously, it's a big loss to us," White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said. "He's a great colleague, a good friend and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed, but we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. "He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends," she added. Stacie Paxton, press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, used Perino's words to cast Monday's events in a different light. "Karl Rove's departure may be a loss for the Bush White House, but it's no loss for America," Paxton said in a news release Monday afternoon. "Whether it's his involvement in the politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys or his leaking the name of a covert CIA agent or his fear and smear tactics along the campaign trail, Karl Rove's type of leadership has no place in the White House," she continued. "And it certainly shouldn't stop him from being held responsible for his actions. "Rove may now join a long list of senior Republican officials forced to resign under a cloud of scandal, but the true problem rests with a Bush White House that for eight years has put what's best for the Republican Party ahead of the American people," Paxton added. Story Continues Below
U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), one of the leading candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in the 2008 election, also used the occasion to criticize Rove and his policies. "Karl Rove was an architect of a political strategy that has left the country more divided, the special interests more powerful and the American people more shut out from their government than any time in memory," Obama said in a news release of his own. "But to build a new kind of politics, it will take more than the departure of a man or even an administration that constructed the old. It will take a movement of everyday Americans committed to changing Washington and reclaiming their government," he said. Democrats weren't the only ones to react harshly to Monday's announcement. Richard Viguerie, author of the book "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause," called Rove's departure from the White House "good news for conservatives." "As President Bush's chief political advisor, Karl Rove was a master in the care and feeding of conservative leaders, keeping them mostly silent as the Republican Party moved left during the Bush presidency," Viguerie said in a statement. "Yes, Karl Rove was a political genius -- he was, after all, the successful architect of Bush's election in 2000 and reelection in 2004," the author stated. "But as the president's chief policy advisor, Rove was the architect of George W. Bush's betrayal of the conservative cause. "Rove's biggest failure was to leave the White House without achieving his stated goal of establishing the Republicans as America's permanent governing party," he continued. "Rove failed in that goal primarily because he attempted to advance the Republican Party by using raw, naked political power and bribing voters. "How do we recover from the Rove Era?" Viguerie asked. "We have to reject the bribing of voters and instead build on President Reagan's legacy. We must re-establish the conservative movement (and the Republican Party, if it wishes to survive) as the movement and party of ideas, empowering people instead of government, and with a strong national defense but no more nation-building. "'Bush's brain' will soon be gone," he added. "Let's hope that wiser counsel prevails in the White House in the future, but let's not depend on that. We conservatives have work to do." As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the controversial presidential adviser said it was the right time to leave his post even though he and Bush "have been at this for a long time," beginning 14 years ago when Bush began his run for Texas governor. He called it an "exhilarating and eventful" time. Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card praised Rove's contributions to the Bush administration, though he noted that "no one is irreplaceable, and they will find a way for others to replace the task that Karl Rove performed" though "it will take a collection of people to do what Karl Rove used to do." "The president and Karl Rove got along very well," Card stated. "He wasn't the alter ego. He was not the president's brain. He was a good sound adviser. I tell you, he is one smart guy and fun to be with." Nevertheless, "the White House and the president will go on and do a great job," he told CNN. However, Rev. Mel White of Soulforce, an organization that describes its goal as "freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from religious and political oppression," responded that Rove "scapegoated gays to win elections, first for Congress, and then for president." Perhaps the most revealing reaction to Rove's departure came as he embraced Bush after his emotional farewell announcement on the South Lawn. As the two men turned to leave, Bill Plante of CBS News called out to Bush: "If he's so smart, how come you lost Congress?"
© CNS News.com. All rights reserved. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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