Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Re: Rove The Conservative   [Jonah Goldberg]

Rich - I don't see any inconsistency in my — very tepid — criticism of Rove in regard to Social Security reform. Even the magazine's editorial notes that National Review disagreed with Rove on how Social Security reform was handled, but not on the ultimate goal. That's pretty much my position. As I said, he deserves some credit for having the right sort of policy in mind, but if he's the brilliant political strategist everyone says, how could he not see how doomed the effort would be and, hence, change plans accordingly? I would very much like to see the federal government lead the way to abolish agricultural subsidies, the Department of Education (for starters) and privatize Social Security, but I wouldn't want to see any Republican administration try if they couldn't succeed.[*]

Here's my basic point: Two assertions are made about Rove by his biggest fans, here and elsewhere. First, that he had enormous influence as a strategist and policymaker. Second, that he was very conservative. I am willing to believe one or the other, but I have a hard time believing both simultaneously (and, in the case of immigration, I was under the impression that NR thought both propositions were unsustainable). Otherwise, we have a situation where Rove is the father of conservative victories while Bush stands alone for conservative defeats.

Also, isn't the upshot of many of these defenses of Rove and Rovism that both America and the Republican Party itself are — and have been — just too liberal to countenance a president more conservative than George W. Bush? That's a pretty depressing assertion. Fortunately, I don't think it's true.

[*]Update: Re-reading this post, I should add that I'm in favor of trying reforms when success is in doubt (which is not how I sound in the original post). But, I think there are prudential questions in need of addressing. The Social Security Hail Mary play cost Bush time and capital and he (and the country and the Republican Party) got very little in return for his efforts. In other words, I'm all in favor of advisers pushing for Social Security reform inside the White House, but what we want from master tacticians is how to translate such ideas into political success. Sure, you get credit as a conservative for trying, but you don't get a gold star as a strategist for failing.

08/14 07:06 PMShare