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This is an archive article published on August 17, 2007

Roving eyes

Indian politicians don’t formally employ political consultants. That’s both good and bad

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Karl Rove was, officially speaking, deputy chief of staff in US President George W. Bush’s White House. As such the voluntary departure of such a functionary should not be big news. To know why it is, one has to understand how connected Rove is to the idea and the substance of the Bush presidency. It can be gauged from the nicknames he has gathered from his boss, a man who conveys intimacy through monikers: ‘boy genius’, ‘the architect’. Others put Rove in clearer perspective by calling him Bush’s brain. Rove is, in short, the man who twice won Bush the Texas governorship, who made him the clear choice for the Republican presidential nomination on the slogan “compassionate conservatism” after the culture wars during the Clinton presidency, and who then proactively polarised voters enough to get him emphatic re-election in 2004.

A little removed from the substance of Rove’s agenda — including failures on privatising social security and legislation on immigration — he is classic case study on the uses of political consultants. Especially here in India, where the profession simply does not exist, with the assignment being scattered among party colleagues, money collectors and assorted hangers-on. The case for a professionally organised campaign is easily made in a situation where 24/7 media exerts such intense scrutiny. Amidst this same 24/7 scrutiny and chatter, a political manager can be key to coordinating various parts of government and legislature to help through the big-idea programmes that every government knows are key to establishing historical legacy.

Yet, as Rove’s career shows, these political consultants can also act like lightning rods for their bosses. The magnitude of Rove’s influence on Bush, remember, is still a subject of feverish speculation. But his departure does allow Bush to appear a fraction more amiable to his critics. Similarly with former British premier Tony Blair. When the heat from missteps in presenting intelligence on Iraq’s WMDs got too intense, his spin-meister Alastair Campbell’s resignation gained him a respite. Now, surely that’s a good reason for our politicians to think more benignly about men like Rove.

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