Thank you, Mr. Rove

In the annals of modern political life in America, Karl Rove is second to none in terms of the impact he has had on our country. Here is someone who, through sheer political cunning and determination, was able to get a man elected President of the United States that had no business being elected.

What attracted Rove to George W. Bush? What was it exactly that grabbed a hold of him with such righteous conviction that his major accomplishment in life would be to lead W to the highest office in our land? Was it because he saw W as a great leader that would march our country forward into the nascent 21st century? Was it something about the way W thought through issues and complex problems that just didn't come across well in televised appearances? Was it the strength of W's convictions that made him dedicate all of his waking hours to making W president? Was there something inside this son of a former president that none of us saw, yet he did?

Unfortunately, I believe the answer to these questions is a resounding NO. What Karl Rove saw in W was a simple man, one who could easily be molded and influenced, told what was needed from him and to follow orders. Rove had in his hands a lumpy piece of clay from which he could literally create a candidate that he could get elected.

That HE could get elected.

That person's pesky ideals or convictions wouldn't get in the way with someone like W, Rove thought. I can turn him into whatever I want. Rove's goal wasn't to elect a man he believed the most fit to run our country. No, his goal was a simple political science experiment: To create a candidate with generic conservative principles that would appeal to a vastly untapped conservative base. And when necessary, shore up support by stoking the fires of partisanship through all out smear assaults on the opposition and emphasizing wedge-issues to energize that base.

Elections for Karl Rove were the end all and be all, the means as well as the end. In hindsight it is rather apparent that this was his finish line. Sure, running the country under conservative principles was good and all, but its importance paled in comparison to winning an election. The myopic psyche that permeates throughout this administration has its genesis in Rove. The only consideration and fundamental driving force was short-term political gain - i.e. winning elections.

And look now at the state of our Union. We are stuck in a seething hellhole that is Iraq. Coming upon the six anniversary of 9/11 and Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden not only are still alive in Afghanistan/Pakistan, but they are gaining in strength?!?! (Read that last sentence again. How can that even be possible?!) We literally lost one of our most beautiful southern cities, New Orleans. We have an Attorney General who, even after unimaginable incompetence and horrific bungling of his duties, still holds his senior level position. And what about the opinion the world holds of our country? I mean any one of these debacles would have left an indelible scar on any administration, but to have them all under one presidency - and there is still more than a year left!! - is an indescribable phenomenon. I believe most of the country has yet to wrap their heads around the all-encompassing failure that is this administration. At a time when our country sorely needed a true leader, from either side of the aisle, we were short-changed and hoodwinked by Mr. Rove, and our country is currently and will continue to pay a dear price for having had W as our president.

So thank you, Mr. Rove. Thank you for giving us a president that has failed so miserably at every important challenge he faced over the last 7 years (except winning elections). Thank you for using our moral high ground after 9/11 to polarize our country for the simple purpose of winning an election or two. Thank you for dividing our country to such an extent that sensible issues that all Americans care about, like solving Social Security and dealing with immigration, are too toxic for moderates from both sides to sit down and hammer out a deal that would benefit the vast majority of Americans.

Your purpose was never to do what was in the interest of the United States. The only thing you cared about was to wield unlimited power in the short time you and your president were in the White House, and you mortgaged the future of our country for your narrow ideological goals and your short-sighted political experiment.


Because of you sir, my generation will have to spend most of its time in the future cleaning up the mess you and the administration you helped usher into office have made.



Thanks.