Why Democrats Need Carl Rove

Without the "evil genius" to kick around any more, who will the Democrats blame for the actions of the Bush administration with which they disagree?

The horns of their dilemma:

1. If Bush Administration becomes less effective with Rove's departure, it makes the administration a less persuasive target of criticism, provides less ammunition to its critics and decreases the ability of candidates to motivate the Democratic base

This path, the Flight of the Boogeyman, endangers the Democrats march to the White House.

2. If the Bush Administration remains as effective as it is presently, the description of the President as merely a dimwitted pawn of others, flattens.

This path concedes history to the President as a man of his own. While it might seem to be the less painful approach, it may be a path that Democratic elites cannot stomach and, on a level with admitting that a communist killed JFK, beyond admission even secretly to oneself.

The reality: Democratic political leadership is more comfortable with reactionary Republicans than with activist conservative Republicans. They were born and bred in the '50's, 60's and 70's, years when the proper and accepted and only role for responsible Republicans was to object to the progressive leadership of enlightened Democrats.

The intellectual revolution amongst conservatives, instigated by Bill Buckley and supported by an extraordinarily deep bench of like-minded political insurgents, captured the Republican party in 1980 and remains the core of the party today. It is a change with which the leftist leadership of the Democratic party has never become comfortable and one which it is incapable of accepting.

As a consequence, the self-image of the liberal elites require they be the more intelligent, the more moral, and the greater the foresight they bring to any table. They are superior to Republicans in every regard. They lead, while Republicans follow dragging their feet.

Their dependence on that self-image trumps even political expediency.

They cannot acknowledge a peer in the form of George Bush, an illegitimate and therefor unelected rube from Texas, without abandoning their superiority. There must be an unseen force, a puppet master.

His name is Karl Rove, he who sold his soul to the Devil decades ago in return for insights into the manipulation of the average (not very intelligent) voter.

The worst of all worlds for these politicians: The Administration continues its activist course, a portion of which succeeds without Karl Rove. How is that possible?

We can expect to see the Democrats bring Karl Rove back to Washington, at least through the 2008 elections. Already, Senator Leahy has promised to call citizen Rove as the star witness in a whole series of Senate chamber hearings.

They need Karl Rove. Without him, they are lost.

Perhaps it's Dick Cheney, after all.