Why is Karl Rove suddenly being singled out? Maybe it's because his detractors and political adversaries know that Rove, even as the Iraqi war was being planned and prosecuted, was quietly soliciting the ideas of respected political and business luminaries in piecing together a Bush economic agenda. That this plan has gained little traction probably has more to do with the Iraqi war than with any shortcomings of the domestic blueprint itself.
Now, with a flattened Saddam Hussein in the rearview mirror, Congress has been debating variations and modifications of the Bush economic plan. And while polling suggests many Americans aren't excited by the president's pocketbook prescriptions, Rove knows this: History shows that taking measures to relieve taxpayers is never anything but a good move.
First, tax cuts are good economics because they usually stimulate growth and spark consumer optimism. Second, they're good politics because even if they ultimately fail to revive the economy, they still provide Bush with a good-faith domestic effort on his election resume.
Make no mistake -- Rove's talents may yet be needed in 2004. Continued economic doldrums could still entice GOP maverick Sen. John McCain of Arizona into a primary challenge to the sitting Republican president. That would mimic the challenge to incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976 by Ronald Reagan. Reagan fared better than most anticipated, and it set up his own ascendancy to the White House in 1980. Even without this nightmare scenario, there's always the possibility that circumstances could suddenly see Bush up against a surprisingly strong Democratic opponent.
There is little doubt the long election season is underway. Not when books start appearing that undermine the credibility of successful campaign operatives. Or when supposedly knowledgeable political pundits start revising electoral and presidential history to fit their current views.
Like him or not, Karl Rove -- in the storied tradition of Bobby Kennedy and Hamilton Jordan -- is good not only for the president he serves, but for the policies being put forth for consumption by the body politic.
Let those Texas bookworms gnaw on that.