Finally, a marginally frightening bogeyman?

The role of Democrats’designated Republican bogeyman (DDRB) has been a shared one during the Obama administration. First, it was Rush Limbaugh. After that have come Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, the Tea Party, John Boehner, and probably a few others whom I have forgotten. Now, as Politico reports, it’s Karl Rove.
Rove is a good choice. Unlike Limbaugh, he’s a political operative. Unlike Cheney, he’s involved in the 2010 election campaign. Unlike Bush, he’s probably less popular than Barack Obama. Unlike the Tea Party, he’s not your friend or neighbor. And unlike Boehner, lots of people know who he is.
Rove is, in fact, a player in the 2010 elections. He is involved with two groups — American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS — that are airing millions of dollars’ worth of pro-Republican ads. As Politico shows, Democrats have overstated Rove’s role in these groups, but that role does not seem de minimis (and I hope it isn’t).
Unlike prior DDRB, one can imagine an occasional independent voter being startled by his apparition. On balance, though, a spokesman for American Crossroads may not have been far off the mark when he told Politico: “If Republicans are talking about jobs, the economy, the failed stimulus, the largest tax hike in history, multi-trillion-dollar deficits and wasteful new entitlements — and the Democrats’ retort involves the former president’s deputy chief of staff and a group he supports, the Democrats will lose far more seats than anyone imagines.”