Carleton Progressive

Karl Rove Reflects on Health Care Reform and His Scandinavian Roots

Muira McCammon

Staff Writer

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Karl Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush’s Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, spoke for about an hour and a half on October 1^st at the Olie Skoglund Center Auditorium. A question-and-answer session moderated by St. Olaf’s Political Action Committee coordinator Akshar Rambachan ’12 followed.

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More than fifty Carls, of all years, took college-provided transportation to hear Rove’s conservative perspective on contemporary political topics in America, ranging from health care reform to potential Republican presidential nominees in 2012. In the days preceding Rove’s arrival, students responded to posters announcing his arrival, but it was unclear how community members and college students would react.

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Although there were no formal groups of protestors identified, the gathering itself was not without its share of political expressions. As members of the audience took their seats, one individual covered himself in fake blood, glued his body to the floor, and promptly received a round of applause from a crowd of seated students. In addition, a row of female Oles wore shirts, which cited the number of Iraqi civilian deaths that have occurred during the American occupation thus far.

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Adon Debiche ’13 said, “I hope someone throws a shoe at him and that he answers the questions.”

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Another Carl, Cooper Buss ’13 noted the rarity of the experience and expressed gratitude that the Carleton College specially provided free transportation to St. Olaf for the event.

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Among Oles, reactions were equally varied and heated. Laura Guzman ’10 noted, “Initially, I was very upset, because he [Rove] doesn’t represent the view of the campus. We don’t get a huge say in who comes to campus.” Nearby, senior, Jonathan Cappelli ‘10 admitted that he was glad Karl Rove had come in order to “portray another political perspective.”

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In the moments prior to Rove’s appearance, an unnamed SGA (Student Government Association) coordinator shared his reactions to meeting the “boy genius” earlier in the evening: “He’s really cool. I still hate him, but he’s really neat. He talked about Minnesota, wind turbines, and was just so laid back.”

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The audience remained quiet for most of Rove’s speech.

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Rove jumped from one hot topic to the next and peppered his dialogue with youthful jokes as well as jabs at politicians and pundits. However, as a recent inductee into the Scandinavian Hall of Fame, he chose to open the evening with a few icebreakers alluding to his own heritage. Describing his father as the quintessential Norwegian, Rove joked that he “loved his wife so much he almost told her.”

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The theme of patriotism was infused in what appeared to be an apolitical opening, as the great, great grandson of a Norwegian immigrant highlighted the current need for Americans to “serve something greater than the self” and embrace their citizenship as the “most valuable thing.” As the evening continued, his speech, far from wide-reaching, focused mainly upon the flaws and faults of President Obama’s health care reform plans.

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Extending government further—which Rove sharply criticized—would only plunge American citizens into further debt, he said. Admitting that some Americans did indeed remain without a health insurance plan, Rove approximated that the number of legal citizens staggered around a few million, instead of the tens of millions estimated by some analysts.

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“Democrats can pass almost anything, because they have the numbers,” Rove stated. “But, thank God, Mary Landrieu Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) doesn’t vote like Franken (D-MN).”

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Free market forces should drive changes to health care insurance, he said, citing the need to treat health care insurance like car insurance. “There should be a national market for health insurance,” he added.

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Health care reform itself should first entail practical changes, which do not allow government to gain stronger responsibility or control over the system. Among other ideas, Rove insisted, health care records should be made more electronically accessible to both physicians and patients alike.

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Alluding to his Texan origins, Rove’s expression became particularly heated and intense, when he described the “frivolous lawsuits” that trouble so many medical practices across the country.

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“We don’t have that problem in Texas due to our tort reform,” Rove said.

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Then came the statistics. “84% of people remain comfortable with what they’ve got,” Rove maintained.

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The lack of a patient’s ability to compare price and quality in different health care plans became a prime target of Rove’s criticism as well. Citing the low profit margin for health insurance companies (.03 cents out of every dollar), Rove described how further taxing health insurance companies would only put further stress on the system. Microsoft’s profit margin, Rove explained, was ten times that of the average health insurance company.

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“We are going to bankrupt the states,” he claimed.

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“Change is a constant message in presidential campaigns,” Rove continued. In 2012, 2016, and onwards, he remarked, the theme of change will remain the same, regardless of who is running.

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Towards the end, he joked, “Ask whatever you want to ask. If I can handle O’Reilly, then I can handle you.”

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Asked how he would have reacted had he been Gore’s presidential advisor and successfully managed his election bid, Rove bluntly responded, “I would’ve killed myself.”

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Later in the evening, he admitted that Governor Pawlenty, “[a] smart and thoughtful [fellow] with new ideas, ” remains a viable Republican presidential nominee.

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Following one of the last questions, a student shouted that Gore won the popular vote, but Rove was quick to remind the audience that event simply did not matter in determining the president. He urged that the only way to change that rule would be to change the Constitution.

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Rove did draw a substantial amount of laughter from listeners, when he likened himself to the forty-year-old virgin in the acclaimed film. He bounced from anecdote to anecdote, describing an afternoon conversation with Meg Whitman and then jumping to a discussion he had had with an OB/GYN at a 2004 White House Hanukkah party.

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By the evening’s end, the Q & A session had introduced countless topics of discussion to Mr. Rove’s speech, and he was eager to answer all of them. When discussing his involvement with the Plame Affair, Rove became visibly heated, when he claimed, “Joe Wilson lied.”

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Asked if he partook in scare tactics in deciphering health care reform, Rove nicknamed Obama, Mr. Popularity, and claimed that American leadership in presidents required something else. As the thirty- minute Q & A session came to a close, he encouraged audience members to purchase his upcoming book and concluded by wishing that “God [would] continue to bless our country.”

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