Speaking in Code

Now we know that President Bush himself wants to leave the Bush administration. With Karl Rove departing Aug. 31, the man who is arguably more invested in the Bush presidency than George W. ever was, is leaving because — and I quote — “as much as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my family.” OK, it might be true, but Rove’s only child is in college and call us crazy but some of us would wager that the man who was willing to forgo adequate sleep, vacation and family time all these years to create and maintain George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, is actually speaking to us in code. It’s that bad. 

I have felt sorry so many times in recent months for Bush, as more and more wheels fall off of this wagon. Who knew there were any left? Losing Dan Bartlett and many others, and now the exit of Rove? No bad poll, stinging policy failure like the death of  immigration reform, or blast from the presidential campaign trail could match the stomach punch that comes when your own team, in sadness, hastens the end. Yes, they would all have stayed much closer to the finish line if there were momentum, a pile of accomplishments and a buoyant mood at this White House. Instead the loyal soldiers, wearing the Iraq war and the public’s growing rage like a cement boot, simply can’t do it anymore. I am sure Bush cannot blame them.

But the one guy closest to the president, the one who cannot be replaced, the man more addicted to the job than his boss, just needs to go now. Rove tells Paul Gigot in his exclusive, published today in The Wall Street Journal, that he thought about this last year and had considered leaving even earlier than that. He said his departure now has nothing to do with the fact that Sens. Pat Leahy and Chuck Schumer want him as a witness under oath before Congress, dead or alive. I can believe that. But he also said chief of staff Josh Bolten told senior staff if they stayed past Labor Day they would have to hang on until the last day in January of 2009. I find it pretty insulting that Rove would try to pass himself off as just another senior staffer bossed around by Bolten. It’s simply more code.

Rove is, of course, Rovely optimistic in the interview, forecasting surges of improvement in Iraq, Bush’s poll numbers and the prospects of Republicans in Congress. Read the interview and let me know how much of this you are buying.

***

ASK A.B. — Please join me for my weekly Q & A video posts by sending useful, interesting and entertaining questions to askab@digital-release.thehill.com. We want to talk politics and have a few laughs. Spare us the offensive, unGoogleable, unthinkable or otherwise useless. I look forward to hearing from all of you, often.