Karl Rove has spent so much of his career tearing down Democrats that it can be downright shocking to watch him praise one, but a new video clip catches Rove doing just that as he waxes on about how great Hillary would have been.
But as usual, it’s really just another opportunity for Rove to bash Barack Obama. In the clip, released by the Harry Walker agency–a speakers bureau which represents Rove and recently signed Hillary Clinton as a lecturer as well–Rove says Clinton would have made a better president than Obama because she’s “more hard-headed.” He goes on to list his favorite criticisms of Obama to describe how Clinton would have been better.
“She would have had the recognition that you have to get engaged, you can’t simply outsource this to Congress,” he says echoing the oft-repeated criticism, that Obama fails to work with Congress. He also throws a dig at Clinton, pointing out that she might have learned from her mistakes during her own pursuit of “Hillary-care.”
In the clip he also pulls out the rightwing talking point that Obama is surrounded by his “Chicago pals” who think he’s “the greatest thing” ever, arguing that Clinton would have brought a more diverse group of people to the White House who would have been willing to challenge her more.
Watch the clip for yourself, before it winds up in a campaign ad in the 2016 season.
The comments from Rove coincide with his recent ascent as the unofficial leader to his party’s re-branding efforts, after he reportedly hosted secret closed door meetings on how to position Republicans to win in the future.
His solution? More Rand Paul’s. Fewer Christine O’Donnell’s. Or at least that’s what he suggested on Fox News Sunday this weekend.
The disdain for Christine “I’m not a witch” O’Donnell may not be much of a shocker, but the support for Rand Paul reveals just how extreme Rove thinks Republicans should be. After all, Paul has compared universal healthcare to slavery, referred to seat belt laws as “nanny-state” paternalism, wants to repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act and to disarm the FDA, and openly admits he would have voted against the civil rights act of 1964.
If Rove wants more Rand Paul’s for his party, he’ll need a lot of luck to beat a candidate as formidable as Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Morgan Whitaker