The Whitehouse yesterday announced the “resignation” of press secretary Scott McClellan and the reassignment of political advisor Karl Rove, and the news today has been obligingly calling it a “shake-up.” This writer sees things differently. First, whether or not McClellan left voluntarily (the reports are conflicting), what better way for the Whitehouse to create the appearance of a shake-up, without actually having one, than by changing press secretaries? McClellan had no political or policymaking role, but he was the most visible person in the Whitehouse other than Bush himself. Thus, his departure provides the biggest possible bang-for-the-buck: maximum public show with minimal internal impact.
Rove’s reassignment is also easy to understand. Rove’s role is being shifted away from policy-making roles (which have included such failures as Medicare reform, immigration reform, Katrina response, etc.) and back onto what Rove does best: political strategy. With Bush’s poll numbers in the toilet and his political agenda dying on the vine, with Tom DeLay and other Congressional Republicans being indicted, and with midterm elections right around the corner, is it any surprise the see Bush’s Brain focusing on political strategy?
The take-away message here isn’t about McClellan or Rove, it’s about paying attention to how the Whitehouse (and the MSM) classifies Bush’s actions: the more the sound, the less the fury. Another ‘mission accomplished.’
