Shifting Into Campaign Mode ; Bush Foes Misread White House Changes

Summary

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The White House shakeup story last week generated an astounding amount of dubious political analysis. In fact, since so much of the misunderstanding seems to center on the role of Karl Rove going forward, with most of the commentary bent on painting the move as a demotion for him, I am tempted to think that the whole thing was an especially wily Rove plot.

Mr. Rove gives up his formal responsibilities for domestic policy in favor of concentrating his attention on the upcoming congressional elections. More evidence of the bankruptcy of the Bush domestic agenda, huffs the opposition. The subtext here, which has been a recurring theme of Democrats when they let their loathing of President Bush get in the way of their political intelligence, is that the Bush administration is over.

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Shifting Into Campaign Mode ; Bush Foes Misread White House Changes

Essentially paralyzed by its own inadequacies, the argument goes, from disaster in Iraq to its misplaced and now rejected domestic policy priorities such as private Social Security accounts, the administration is out of ...

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