MORE JUJITSU

Karl Rove may have left his job on Friday, but the Bush photo op over the weekend was clearly an attempt at Rovian jujitsu.

A prominent message Bush was trying to send (in addition to the usual "Look at me! Big tough soldiers love me!") was that staying the course isn't the opposite of getting troop reductions soon -- staying the course is the way we'll get troop reductions soon.

The New York Times:

...His visit, with his commanders and senior Iraqi officials, had a clear political goal: to try to head off opponents' pressure for a withdrawal by hailing what he called recent successes in Iraq and by contending that only making Iraq stable would allow American forces to pull back....

Taking an opponent's strength (Democrats, like the public, want to get the troops out) and turning it into a weakness (they can't get the troops out, but I can) -- that's classically Rovian. I think we'll detect his style from this White House long after he's gone.