The current political landscape is fraught with pols and talking heads, who do not necessarily help the party to which they are affiliated . Karl Rove is an excellent example of a person whose time has passed, but his commentary is still encouraged by  conservative media outlets.

 

Rove wrote an article  that was published by the Wall Street Journal on July 3, 2014 titled “The Democrats’ Top Leaders Wilt in the Polls.” Given that Rove’s reputation is still suffering from his disastrous prediction that Mitt Romney would win the presidency in 2012, how can Republicans depend upon the man for substantive, unbiased and accurate political input? I’m afraid Karl is a has-been whose greatest moments came when George W. Bush was president.

 

Rove’s op-ed is chock full of political gossip that surely delights the hearts of hardcore conservatives. Paragraph after paragraph of his piece attacks Obama and Clinton. I don’t necessarily disagree with anything mentioned, but his words are not impactful because he is, well, he’s Karl Rove.

 

For Obama, the IRS investigation (it’s a cover up), the economy contracted  in the first quarter (most analysts expect a recovery in the balance of the year), children from Central America (neither political party has done a damn thing to reform immigration), Iraq is disintegrating (Bush started this mess), Obama’s polls are down (just look at Bush’s poll numbers and those of the current Congress today) and the Supreme Court “slapped him down” in four recent rulings are all mentioned by Rove.

 

And then there’s Obama’s attitude. Most Americans now realize that the president is insular; he’s a one-man show, and he gets pissed whenever anyone criticizes him. Frankly, he’s arrogant. But this is old news. The president has always parsed his words carefully, but recently, he has uttered some inappropriate things. The worst comment may have been his “So sue me” admonition to the Congress.

 

Similarly, Rove went off on Hillary Clinton. Please, Hillary is such an easy target. We all know about her political warts. And, we recognize that she thinks she has a divine right to be president. Rove writes that Clinton’s popularity has dropped precipitously to the level at which she lost the 2008 primary. I’m not exactly sure what this foretells, as her favorability rating is greater than 50%.

 

Then, Rove makes a point that Clinton is unable to offer any significant foreign policy achievements during her tenure as Secretary of State, other than resetting the Russian relationship. Actually, Clintin’s comment really is a joke, especially since Putin has not been reset- he just invaded Ukraine while the U.S. and other western countries have done little other than imposing a few economic sanctions.

 

Clinton’s new book, according to Rove is ill timed. In it, the Clinton says the couple pays ordinary taxes (as they rake in $200,000 for one speech). And,  the happy couple was “dead broke” and in debt at the end of Bill’s term (but now they have many millions).

 

However, the worst aspect of the op-ed is when Rove starts to opine about the Clinton political strategy to win the 2016 presidential election. Here’s a news flash, Mrs. Clinton has not said she will run for president. If she does run, she will win the primary and be difficult to beat in the general election.

 

Demeaning comments about Democrats from the mouth or pen of Karl Rove are hurting the Republican cause. My recommendation is that Rove take a sabbatical until after the 2016 election along with all of his Tea Party supporters, or Clinton will surely win in 2016.