Don't Mean a Thing

The big story the White House is pushing today is that Scotty-Boy McClellan has resigned as press secretary and Karl Rove shuffled some papers around. Everybody seems to be trying to tie the two events together for some sort of meaningful shakeup, but it's just not convincing. Run over to Google News and run a search for "Karl Rove." CNN's head says, "White House shake-up touches McClellan, Rove." Reuters says, "Bush press secretary quits, Rove ends policy role." The New York Times reports, "Rove Loses a Post in White House Overhaul." The headline at The Washington Post Webpage is "Rove Gives Up Policy Post; McClellan Resigns" (although the story at the link itself heads it with McClellan and leaves Rove to the subhead). At the Newsweek site, Howard Fineman calls it "Clipping Rove’s Wings." But all that's nonsense. Rove was believed to be the power behind the throne long before he had the official title of deputy chief of staff (a title he retains, by the way; it's only his portfolio that's theoretically been reduced). There's no reason to expect that this is changing now, no matter what slight of hand the White House tries to distract us with. As far as Karl Rove is concerned, nothing is different today than it was yesterday.