The master of misdirection

Some folks seem to believe that Karl Rove is a genuine political genius, whom history will recognize as the master of the art. Personally, I don't much like the influence that these political advisers have on presidents, but I have to admit that Rove is daily appearing to be everything that those who love him and fear him most would have us believe.

It's no secret that the key to the magician's art id misdirection. The most skilled illusionists work with few props, achieving their illusions by skillfully misdirecting the attention of the audience, or, more accurately, purposely directing it toward something that will hold their attention but give them no useful information. They study his flourishing right hand and miss the clue in the left.

Incredibly, for weeks now the press and political talkers of the country have been staring fixedly at non-event... non-crimes that probably didn't happen. Note also that these non-events concern a man who is the political adviser to a president who cannot run for office in the future. If Rove planned all this he is the supreme master they say he is. The time for Democrats to worry about Rove is when he disappears from view. Sometime down the road he will fall off the radar; holding meetings and making his phone calls unnoticed and unremarked. That, is when smart Democrats should be worried. As long as he is at the White House he can be watched, why help him into the shadows?