The New Nation - Internet Edition

KARL Rove, who has often been known as President George W Bush's 'brain' and 'political guru', announced the other day that he would resign at the end of this month. The White House, according to AFP news agency report from Washington, 'confirmed' his impending departure, calling it 'a big loss.' 'I just think it's time,' Rove, who has been linked to the most controversial decisions of Bush's presidency, told The Wall Street Journal of the resignation, which will take effect on August 31. "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family." But the White House is under strong pressure from congressional Republicans, who see across-the-board losses in next year's presidential and congressional elections unless there is a strategic reassessment of the current course, specially the war in Iraq.

An astute political operator from Texas who has been with Mr. Bush since his Texas gubernatorial campaign of the 1990s, Rove has been under fire since 2003 when retired US diplomat Joseph Wilson claimed he had illegally leaked to the media the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, a covert CIA employee. Wilson asserted the leak had been orchestrated in retaliation for his questioning the Bush administration's 'rationale for war in Iraq'. Wilson, it can be mentioned here, wrote in a commentary that the White House claim that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium ore from the African nation of Niger was 'false'. The claim, made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address, was widely used to justify the subsequent invasion of Iraq. According to media reports, Rove has been widely reported to have played a key behind-the-scenes role in persuading Congress to endorse the invasion of Iraq.

The exit of the master White House strategist created immediate impact on the US politics and media both as Democrats celebrated the resignation of their one-time nemesis Rove, bidding 'good riddance' to him and claiming he was leaving 'under a cloud of scandal'. Rove was the latest key aide to leave President Bush's side, reflecting the US leader's waning powers in the twilight of his second term. Democrats who avenged their string of defeats to Rove only by seizing control of both chambers of Congress last year cheered his departure. In a terse statement Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said 'Goodbye, good riddance'. Another 2008 Democratic hopeful Senator Barack Obama was also scathing - 'Karl Rove was an architect of a political strategy that has left us more divided, the special interests more powerful, and the American people more shut out from their government than at any time in memory.'

Senate Judiciary Commitee Chairman Patrick Leahy, who subpoenaed Rove in a row over the firing of federal prosecutors, said 'There is a cloud over the White House, and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelops Rove, even as he leaves the White House.' Influential newspaper The New York Times, on the other hand, called on Congress to pursue its investigation of departing adviser Rove, whom it accused of pursuing 'a ruthless brand of politics as blood sport' The Times editors wrote, 'Congress needs to use all its powers to bring Rove back to Washington to testify - in public and under oath - about how he used his office to put politics above the interests of the American people.'