Newsweek: The Bush White House after Karl Rove will be a very different place

Aug. 13, 2007 - In George W. Bush’s White House, no one was more powerful or influential than Karl Rove. The political strategist not only managed elections, he had his fingers in nearly every major policy decision made by this administration during the past six and a half years. It was Rove who worked the phones behind the scenes to secure some of Bush’s most memorable victories, including the tax cuts and Medicare prescription-drug bills Bush signed into law during his first term. After the September 11 attacks, it was Rove who masterminded the strategy of painting Republicans as tougher on terrorism than Democrats—a contrast that helped Bush and the GOP win by historic margins in the 2002 and 2004 elections.

Privately, Rove was considered a man to be feared, by both Democrats and Republicans. Members of Congress, always anonymously, whispered about Rove’s threats and intimidation when it came to backing Bush’s policies. Rep. Tom Tancredo, one of the few Republicans to publicly complain about Rove, told reporters about a 2002 run-in with Bush’s strategist over immigration reform. Tancredo, who opposes Bush’s plan, told NEWSWEEK Rove warned him “never to darken the doorstep of the White House again” after he went on TV to bash immigration reform.

In his exit interview with the Journal, Rove says he’s done with politics, though notably says he’d offer advice to any of the 2008 GOP presidential candidates, if he were asked. He says he’ll write a book about his time in the White House, prompted in part by Bush’s urging.