Rove-O-Meter is lost and found

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By Martin Schram

Looking back, we can see how the Remarkable Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Barack Obama really began months ago, way back in November 2009.

It began when President Obama's top strategists scrapped their conventional, old-think strategies that were turning the president's visionary policy groundwork into quicksand. They rediscovered their populist appeal. All because they used a new, hi-tech, strategy-measuring instrument - the Rove-O-Meter.

The device, a gift from a patriotic pundit, allowed Mr. Obama's brain trust finally to measure their handiwork by the standard they use to measure the craft of their opponents. Eureka! For the first time, they saw the flaws in their own strategies.

Using their Rove-O-Meter, the Obama strategists typed in one of their strategies. It appeared on the screen, superimposed over the image of Karl Rove, the kingmaker for George II. Below Mr. Rove's mug was this: "What would you be saying today if that was Karl Rove's strategy?"

Instantly, the Obama strategists saw the flaws.

Instinctively, they attacked - "a typical Karl Rove low road scheme!" one harrumphed.

Intuitively, they charted counter-strategies to defeat "Rove's" plan, starting with calls for decency, transparency and accountability.

Inevitably, the new Obama strategy became a high-road path. It's always easier to claim the high road as an outsider.

(Fair-and-Balanced Footnote: Obviously, the Rove-O-Meter was made for Democrats. It has left-hand drive specifications but also comes with a right-hand-drive converter kit. Republicans can transform it into their own instrument for measuring and fixing failing Republican strategies. Thus converted, it becomes a Carville-O-Meter.)

Team Obama promptly calibrated its Rove-O-Meter to measure Mr. Obama's strategy for enacting health care reform against Mr. Rove's yardstick - and immediately saw why ordinary folks, especially independents, were suspicious. Especially caring people that were ill-informed, confused, susceptible to being frightened and stampeded by demagogues.

Seeing their manipulations as if Mr. Rove had ordered them, Mr. Obama's advisers knew they'd be screaming about deception if it were Mr. Rove who was rushing a vote on a 1,990-page bill no one had read. And if Mr. Rove countered by saying he'd put that legislative choke-wad online for 72 hours so the people could see it (as House Democrats promised in November 2009), the Obama strategists knew they'd have blasted the move as "arrogance of power."

Hmmm. Come to think of it, Team Rove really did that.

Rewind to Nov. 22, 2003: The House Republican majority strong-armed President Bush's prescription-drug reform plan to a late-night vote. Democrats accused Republicans of rushing a vote because the huge 678-page bill was filled with goodies for insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Rep. Deborah Pryce, Ohio Republican, responded: "For those who are telling us to slow down, I say, seniors have been waiting for too long." House Republicans did more than slow down - they stopped the House clock for three hours until they twisted enough arms to win by five votes.

Fast-forward to February 2005: Then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel (now Mr. Obama's chief of staff) taunted a Bush official at a hearing, using lines we hear from Republicans today: "If you're looking for a crisis, I would suggest you look at a crisis that was self-made in just last year, because the crisis exists in what's happened to Medicare by weighing it down. Those of us who told you it was going to cost twice as much were right."

Back in November 2009: Using their new Rove-O-Meter, Mr. Obama's strategists realized it looked deceitful to rush a vote on a bill no one had read. Finally, they knew what to do. Turning political necessity into populist virtue, the Obama strategists asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to announce a week-long Health Reform Telethon, live on C-SPAN. As America tuned in, dozed off and tuned out, House Democrats went page by page, showing the bill's text and reading summary explanations of each section. They explained how each provision will work. Speakers charted 10 major provisions, explained costs, benefits and options for ordinary people.

Mr. Obama's new health care strategy proved to be just what the doctor ordered. He no longer seemed to be a salesman who was too smooth by a half. He appeared to be the people's president, once again.

Martin Schram writes political analysis for Scripps Howard News Service.