Rove leaves, too late

Karl Rove is leaving the Bush administration too late. The damage is done.

The man whom President George W. Bush himself credited as the "architect" of his 2004 re-election also played a hand in tarnishing the presidency with his career-long hallmark — ruthless, divisive strategy and we-know-best arrogance. That strategy won two national elections but has been corrosive to a nation weary of political ends trumping credible government policy. Rove, who followed Bush from Texas, is the president's closest adviser. Rove's fingerprints are all over the Bush presidency — whether it's the decision to go to war in Iraq or to cross an ethical line in dealing with U.S. Justice Department personnel decisions, or the shameless propensity to tinker with government-agency reports for political purposes.

The White House deputy chief of staff failed miserably in his efforts to spur reform of Social Security and federal immigration policy and — probably most disappointing for him and his boss — at his larger goals of burnishing a positive Bush legacy and cementing a permanent Republican majority in Congress.

Though Rove played a role in disclosing the identity of former Central Intelligence Agent Valerie Plame — he testified before a federal grand jury five times — he was never indicted.

There is still a chance he might be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a Senate committee about the political firings of nine U.S. attorneys, including Seattle-based John McKay.

The president who was supposed to be "a uniter, not a divider" has become the "decider" without footing in reason or accountability. That failure, among many others, is Bush's, but Rove mapped out the road that brought him and the nation to this point.