The New Power Couple

If one was feeling grandiloquent, one could pronounce this week the dawn of a new phase in the Bush presidency: The Cheney-Rove era has finally been replaced by the Rice-Bolten one.

This change has been on the cards for a while, but this week marks its coming out party. The readiness to talk to Iran demonstrates that Condi is now the preeminent national security policy-maker. As Rich Lowry pointed out yesterday and the Grey Lady confirms today, Rice trumped Cheney on this one. Also this week, Josh Bolten succeeded where Karl Rove had publicly failed: He got the administration a star to sell its economic policies.

The national security shift is likely permanent. It is hard to see how Cheney’s stock can bounce back—the Scooter Libby trial will wash his office’s dirty laundry in the most public manner possible. Rice’s pragmatic, diplomatic approach fits better with America’s current predicament. Indeed, Iran is a perfect illustration of this. The administration’s hardliners have no alternative to this latest Rice gambit. Domestically, though, one can see a way that Rove could recover some of his reputation and influence.

Bush has long viewed one of his roles as making the GOP a Hispanic-friendly party. A key part of this is immigration reform. If Rove can thread the needle on immigration and use his skills to keep the Republicans in control of the Capitol, then there could be life in the old dog yet.