Rove leaves during historic GOP downturn

[EV_Ares]

During the 2000 campaign, Karl Rove often spoke of the 36 years of Republican realignment engineered by President William McKinley and his political strategist, Mark Hanna. Rove seemed to say that he would be the Hanna of our time.

But as Rove stood on the White House lawn Monday, struggling to keep his composure as he announced his resignation, history seems poised to render a more uneasy verdict on this indelible political figure. Increasingly, it is apparent that the Rove era may not broaden the movement begun by Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan but could instead mark the end point of a period of Republican majority.

Rove's ambitions of a permanent Republican realignment are now little more than an unfulfilled dream. And that dream, to borrow from Langston Hughes, now sits as a heavy load upon the legacy of the man who leaves the GOP at a low point that threatens the legacy of President Bush and the electoral ambitions of Republicans in 2008 and beyond.

The White House hubris after Bush's 2004 reelection now seems a faded memory. "You have to say that if (Rove) can claim credit for what happened in 2004, it is reasonable that he is somewhat responsible for where we are in 2007," said conservative leader Paul Weyrich.

For Republicans, it is hard to remember a time when the party was in worse shape. Even during the dreadful days of Watergate, there were fundamental electoral trends favoring the GOP: a conservative Christian movement was coalescing, Americans had come to distrust big government, largely because of Nixon, and Democratic ties to the anti-war movement allowed Republicans under Ronald Reagan to seize the mantle of national security.

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