Strategy of Karl Rove, Essay Example

Over the course of the past decade, one political mind has been highly discussed, interpreted and analyzed more than any other person that has never held an elected office.  Karl Rove was the senior advisor, campaign manager and ultimately appointed to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush from 2000-2007.  President Bush’s popularity and well-known last name may have been enough to gain the intrigue of the American public, but it was clearly the strategic mind of Karl Rove that earned his victory in the 2000 election and maintained his position in power for the full two terms. Despite all of this, Karl Rove resigned from his position in the White House on August 31, 2007 and began a career in the media working for such outlets as Fox, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.  Nevertheless, it is important to utilize various resources to emphasis the strategic impact that Karl Rove has had upon the lasting legacy of former President Bush and his abilities as an effective strategist are truly what has etched his name in the history books.

Many political analysts debate the true nature of the Bush-Rove relationship, but most revere Karl Rove as an expert political strategist with a mind in the 2000s to that of James Carville in the 1990s. “Rove is an effective strategist because he has had an exception rapport with an exceptionally capable politician who brought intuition, skills and independent judgment to the task” (Halperin & Harrisp. xiv). This quote was directly retrieved from the book The Way to Win and it clearly illustrates the authors’ viewpoints that Rove is definitely an effective strategist.  Even during President Bush’s acceptance speech after the 2004 re-election campaign, he referred to Karl Rove as the “architect” of the entire campaign and attributed much of his campaign success to Rove’s strategies (Balz& Allen par. 6). In fact, these strategies are the very reason that angry political liberals have dubbed Rove the “puppet master” because they believe that Karl Rove is truly the mind behind all of the actions within President Bush’s administration.  Nevertheless, this only goes to show how effective Rove had worked to utilize powerful strategy in winning two elections for President Bush.

In an article published by the Washington Post, several comments were made that attributed Karl Rove’s campaign strategy as one in which united the country despite outcries from an angry Democratic base.  In a plan to attribute the ongoing struggles and daily problems experienced by every American into Republican ideals for actual solutions, Karl Rove “also designed around a plan to increase members of the electorate calling themselves Republicans” Balz& Allen par. 9).  By implementing this strategy, Rove ensured that every citizen during the 2004 campaign were reminded of their problems and were then influenced to consider their own personal beliefs as “republican” in nature.  However, the goal was to stay away from issues that would remind the people of Bush’s incompetence and inability to act effectively on domestic affairs, which were his two major critiques since his initial inauguration.  This was a strategy that proved to be effective as the Bush campaign defeated Senator John Kerry for a second full term as President.  Furthermore, Karl Rove spearheaded to major political campaigns that not only re-wrote the history books, but it also re-wrote the “campaign playbooks” by which politicians and strategists would use to implement theory and fundamental strategy into campaign management techniques for years to come (Cummings par. 1).  People may not always agree with Rove’s tactics, but every person can definitely agree that Karl Rove was a master strategist who redefined how political campaign theory was discussed and implemented to earn major victories at the highest level of government.

Works Cited

Balz, Dan, and Mike Allen. “Four More Years Attributed to Rove’s Strategy: Despite Moments of Doubt, Adviser’s Planning Paid Off.” Washington Post 7 Nov. 2004: A01. WashingtonPost.com. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A31003-2004Nov6?language=printer>.

Cummings, Jeanne. “Rove’s Patented Strategies Will Endure.” politico.com. 13 Aug. 2007. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0807/5375.html>.

Halperin, Mark, and John F. Harris. The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.