Rove the Albatross.

“Karl does not have any real enemies in the White House, but there are a lot of people in the White House wondering how they can put this behind them if the cloud remains over Karl…You can not have that [fresh] start as long as Karl is there.” As Scooter Libby pleads not guilty, the White House contemplates its Rove problem. No enemies, perhaps, but the fact that a story like this is leaking suggest someone wants Rove out. Update: In light of recent events, Slate‘s Jacob Weisberg revisits the Bush/Rove = McKinley/Hanna analogy.

Roll Call.

Slate queries various pundits on the Iraq war, including Mark Bowden, Alan Brinkley, Nicholson Baker, and Spike Lee. In a related story, forget Vietnam or WWII. Neal Gabler of Salon has found a more pertinent historical corollary to Iraq in the Spanish-American war. The McKinley-Bush comparisons are eerily apt, particularly when you factor in Karl Rove’s hero, Mark Hanna.