While the News Masthead exposed Ed Shanahan’s hypocrisy in uniquely damning fashion (using his own words, no less), I’m discouraged that no discussion on the content of Rove’s career has taken place. In his letter, Shanahan characterized Rove as a “public servant” - an interesting representation, to be sure, but one that is highly misleading. Rove’s principal occupation for the past thirty years has been that of political consultant; his primary contribution to society has been the election of his client candidates. Whether one leans right or left, the triumph of process over policy is harmful, and trumpeting spinmeisters at the expense of actual decisionmakers is misguided. If Mr. Shanahan had an actual interest in exposing his students to contemporary “public servants,” he might have opted for Don Rumsfeld, the chief architect of the War in Iraq (and if Mr. Shanahan had an actual interest in enlightening himself on the planning of the war, I’d recommend Bob Woodward’s State of Denial), or George Tenet, intimately involved in the intelligence-gathering prior to it.
Forget, for a second, the political and ethical arguments against Karl Rove. Ignore Valerie Plame. Tune out the Iraq War. And attempt to silence partisan impulses. Concentrate instead on the context of Rove’s career. This is a man who began his foray into “public service” by sneaking into the offices of a rival campaign, stealing letterhead and mailing offers of “free beer, free food, girls.” to prospective voters. During Watergate, Rove was caught on tape advocating dumpster-diving as an acceptable campaign practice. Much of the intervening years were spent as a strategist-for-hire and owner of a direct-mail business. And then, in 2000, he earned national scorn after being linked to a pro-Bush whisper campaign which accused challenger John McCain of fathering a black child - and effectively sunk McCain’s campaign (though, to be fair to Rove, he has not been conclusively tied to the push-polling.) Bear in mind that at no point during this time was Rove involved in actual government policy.
A troubled past does not necessarily preclude a productive present, to be sure. And, on that note, the central issue Shanahan highlights in hailing Rove’s “service” is the war in Iraq. But Rove did not plan the war in Iraq - he sold it. And it is here where Shanahan is so embarrassingly wrong. Whether you agree with his politics or not, Donald Rumsfeld was a public servant. So were Paul Wolfowitz and George Tenet. Graduating speakers are intended to impart words of wisdom and serve as models for their listeners, and the aforementioned trio fit that bill. But Karl Rove is a purveyor of noise, and Shanahan is disgracing our school in choosing to ignore that fact. Too frequently I have seen Rove’s “hiring” compared to Columbia University’s decision to allow Iranian firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at their school (and perhaps this is what Mr. Shanahan was driving at); if only this analogy were true! Instead, our Headmaster has invited the analogical equivalent of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s PR man, a master of politics-as-sport, and for that we should all be embarrassed.
