New Thought Leaders
Rove (above) and his Democratic doppelganger, Plouffe
In the first decade of the 21st century, the only people who have had a greater effect on the American political landscape than Karl Rove and David Plouffe are the men they propelled to the presidency. The similarities between Rove (who ran George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns) and Plouffe (who managed Barack Obama’s 2008 effort) are pretty obvious. Both were brilliant tacticians obsessed with the data—the calculus, the geography, the economics—of electoral success. Both mastered the latest get-out-the-vote technologies and applied them with ruthless efficiency. And both developed outsize reputations as mystery men endowed with miraculous political powers. Rove and Plouffe represented, reflected, and reinforced Washington’s Cult of the Consultant; they were the first campaign managers considered as important as the candidates themselves. It’s the differences between the two men, however, that reveal the real story of the past nine years. After Bush was elected in 2000, Rove transformed the White House policy shop into a political operation; every proposal was meant to peel off key Democratic groups and help solidify a Republican governing coalition. But Rove failed to recognize that realignments can’t be forced, and by putting politics ahead of policy at a time when America was mired in two unpopular wars and struggling at home, he primed the electorate to swing back in a Democratic direction. By trying so hard to cement a permanent Republican majority, Rove gave the Democrats a chance to create one of their own.
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