But as all of Washington knows, Rove doesn’t need a picture to prove his ties to George W. Bush. He’s been at his boss’s side since 1973, the “boy genius” strategist who masterminded Bush’s rise to the top and whose job it is now to keep him there. And Rove, in reality, is anything but unassuming. He thinks he knows more on any topic than anyone else. He never met an intellectual fight he didn’t want to pick. He knows that for a political handler, the perception of power is the real thing, so you brag about your brilliance. But the president distrusts consultants as a class, and loathes having people write that his political career was concocted in someone’s laboratory. Bush does not like bragging, either, unless he’s the one doing it.
When I saw Rove that day, he was, as usual, toggling between his two modes. A GOP senator called for help on a matter; Boss Rove treated him with respect, but without sounding as though he were speaking to a superior. Asked about his role in military and foreign-policy matters, Rove denied he had any–but added that he tends to “speak up from the back row.” In other words: he’s in the room. No policy issue is too minute for Rove to demonstrate his expertise. Asked about a farm bill, he lectures about the ratio of wheat to corn farming in western Iowa.
Rove is the consummate staffer, but he and Bush sometimes behave like rivals. In his office, Rove recounted his exploits on the jogging trails of Camp David. The president–a fitness nut–had been on Rove’s case to lose weight. At Camp David one weekend, Bush had challenged his consigliere to accompany him on a strenuous run. Rove raced up the first hill–backward. “The president was amazed,” Rove said with satisfaction. “Of course, I then needed a golf cart to get back to the cabin.” Rove said he had started working out with Bush’s own personal trainer.
The struggle between Rove the Unassuming and Rove the Assertive is a defining drama of the Bush years. It won’t be good news for the president if the latter wins. It will mean that Bush has lost the aura of leadership he won after 9-11. He’d be just another pol.
