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Roves Pushes More Phony Myths

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By MAUREEN DOWD

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - Karl Rove was impressed with Barack Obama when he first met him. But now he sees him as a "coolly arrogant" elitist.

This was Rove's take on Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club Monday, according to Christianne Klein of ABC News:

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Actually, that sounds more like W.

The cheap populism is really rich coming from Karl Rove. When was the last time he kicked back with a corncob pipe to watch professional wrestling?

Rove is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won't work this time. The absurd spectacle of rich white conservatives trying to paint Obama as a watercress sandwich with the crust cut off seems ugly and fake.

Obama can be aloof and dismissive at times, and he's certainly self-regarding, carrying the aura of the Ivy faculty club. But isn't that better than the aura of the country clubs that tried to keep out blacks?

Unlike W., Obama doesn't have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn't make a lot of snarky remarks. He tries to stay positive and see things from the other person's point of view.

Conservatives love playing this little game, acting as if the "elite" Democratic candidates are not in touch with people like themselves, even though the guys doing the attacking - like Rove, Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Hannity - are wealthy and cosseted.

Rove's mythmaking about Obama won't fly. If he means that Obama has brains, what's wrong with that? If he means that Obama has education and intellectual sophistication, what's wrong with that?

Many of Obama's traits are the traits that people in the population aspire to.

Maureen Dowd is a columnist for The New York Times

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