The Rove legacy

"Bush's brain out," was the instant headline on CNN, doubtless leading to a few double-takes among those old enough to remember the classic Orson Welles radio show "Donovan's Brain," or that hoaky episode of "Star Trek" in which aliens hijack Mr. Spock's cerebrum to replace their aging computer core.

In fact, it merely meant Karl Rove, the "dear friend" who has been with President Bush since his first (unsuccessful) run for Congress in 1978, had announced his resignation Monday.

"It was a major loss for Bush as he heads into the twilight of his presidency," summarized AP White House Correspondent Terence Hunt.

Indeed, Mr. Rove's reputation as the political mastermind who engineered both of Mr. Bush's presidential campaign victories may be well-deserved. But he was less successful in promoting the president's major policy goals, including privately-owned Social Security accounts.

It's not clear anyone could have done that, at present. But in fact, Mr. Rove had already been forced to relinquish his role as chief policy coordinator last year. It might be more accurate to point out what a loss Mr. Rove will be to partisan Democrats and their odd, manufactured cosmology.

Current Democratic demonology, after all -- reinforced through endless repetition -- holds that George W. Bush, a grinning idiot, is little more than a trained chimp playing "front man" for the real evil geniuses of this administration -- Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney.

It was really Mr. Rove and Mr. Cheney who were the targets of the recent political witch hunt to determine who "leaked" the fact that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA -- an action that turned out not to be a crime, at all.

Still, the raucous drum-beating sufficed to get former Cheney aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby convicted of remembering discussions about Ms. Plame differently from other witnesses, leading to a commutation of sentence by President Bush, which Democrats then decried as more evidence of "the most corrupt administration in history" -- an easy sell to those too young to remember Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Is this the "twilight" of George W. Bush's presidency? Will he now have trouble finding the bathroom without Mr. Rove's guidance? Should Americans embrace Democratic wishful thinking about his purported helplessness?

Maybe not. During the final 18-month "twilight" of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, American armies conquered France, the Philippines and most of Germany.