Wonderboy Watch

I don't get around to too many other blogs, so I was just wondering if anyone heard anything about the whole Rove job change in early February. At the time, I speculated that this was an outright demotion by the Big Guy, and that post-election, Bush wasn't going to take no crap from no one, including the guy most responsible for getting him the Whitehouse. I wrote that Bush felt he was justified in everything and almost invincible after the narrow election; and didn't like the idea of anyone thinking of him as a puppet. It's something we contemplate, and it should seriously worry Bush; whether or not it really does.

But inner circles clearly give too much credit to Rove, at least in Bush's estimation; and so I speculated that Bush wanted to knock Rove down a few notches; but without giving the appearance of punishing him, which would stain Bush. I know absolutely nothing about Whitehouse jobs and staff maneuverings, but Rove's new gig sounded like an odd-place to put the guy, and seemed to move him away from Bush and Bush's policy decisions.

I also speculated that this might be because Rove had tried to warn him off of his Social Security obsession, which really is political suicide; and that Bush wanted to show who was boss. That was my two cents anyway.

So what became of this? Is Rove all the more powerful as a deputy White House chief of staff? Did it make a difference? Was his preferred title of Viceroy Eccellente Supreme already taken by Cheney? What the hell was Rove before? Political Hitman? Has all this been forgotten about? Just another insignificant blip on a crowded political radar? Did it matter at all?