WASHINGTON — Not to be "ungenerous or self-centered," said White House Counselor Ed Gillespie, but he thinks some people overestimate Karl Rove's importance. After all, Gillespie pointed out, during the 2004 presidential campaign he headed the Republican National Committee, the heart of the party's operations. And he talked to Rove only "from time to time"
Another White House official, asked what it would mean to lose the legendary strategist, whose departure was announced Monday, recalled that Rove had started the staff's "ice-cream Fridays."
As one of the most powerful and controversial presidential advisors in modern history heads out the door, the White House is engaged in an unusual game of double spin: While President Bush bear-hugged Rove and showered him with praise in a South Lawn ceremony, officials like Gillespie quietly began to whittle down Rove's image as the man who played a key role in almost every major decision of the Bush era.
If all that sounds contradictory, it's just politics:
Praising such a prominent member of the administration as he prepares to leave office at the end of the month is almost obligatory, especially since Rove remains an admired figure and longtime friend to many in the GOP's conservative base. At the same time, downplaying Rove puts some distance between Bush and a man who, for all his service to president and party, has become a lightning rod for Democratic attacks.
Reducing Rove's stature as he leaves could help the administration in the same way that Donald H. Rumsfeld's departure as Defense secretary last year temporarily eased pressure on the president's Iraq war policy.
White House aides deny they are engaging in spin. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said she was just trying to humanize Rove when she told a Fox News interviewer about his creation of the ice-cream tradition. And she said any attempt to downplay Rove's role was only meant to counteract misimpressions fostered by the news media and Rove's critics.
"There's probably a tendency on our part to explain that this has been a team effort, and he has been an integral part of the team," she said Tuesday.
Yet Rove has been more than just another member of the White House team.
A posse of Democratic congressional investigators has been pushing hard for evidence that Rove went too far in politicizing the federal government, including the possibility that he improperly injected politics into the decision to fire several U.S. attorneys. The administration's own Office of Special Counsel also is investigating Rove's activities.
