Karl Rove spoke about his thoughts about the state of United States politics Wednesday at an event sponsored by the College Republicans. His commentaries, though, were not worth the money spent on him.

In a fairly filled Goldstein Auditorium, Rove took time to explain the major issues for the 2012 presidential race. He later answered audience members’ questions, which had been submitted before he took to the stage.

Rove is full of commentary on the race for president and for politics. As a senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, he has a unique perspective. But the viewpoints he presented at the event were not unique. The $20,000 the College Republicans paid to have him speak did not seem worth it.

Rove was critical of the bailout and President Barack Obama’s refusal to address entitlement cuts. He said if government spending were not controlled, ‘we’re on our way to looking like Greece.’

In his remarks, Rove advocated for fiscal responsibility in the health care and entitlement system. His argument was undercut by his lack of support for fiscal responsibility in the two wars he supported. Rather than fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the raising revenue, he did not care about running up the nation’s debt. He advocated for lower tax rates for the wealthy, which have not paid off yet.

After Bush left office, Rove wants to talk about how Obama has not done enough to cut government spending and how the ‘economy should be going and blowing’ by now. He appears not to have realized what role the president he advised had in the economic downturn.

In a 2010 interview on Fox News, Rove said the Bush tax cuts ‘led to first of all, the largest amount of revenue being received by the government. They helped encourage economic growth and grew tax revenues.’

This is simply not the case. Tax receipts as a percentage of gross domestic product decreased after the Bush tax cuts were enacted. His credibility on wanting to cut spending is undercut by the lack of restraint he and Bush had when spending on national defense.

One audience member’s question about Iran demonstrated Rove’s selectiveness in cutting spending. Rove expressed concern of limiting defense spending when the threats to the United States and its allies are so significant.

Rove also dodged around some audience questions. My question, which he answered, read: ‘What do you think about minor candidates in the race for the GOP nomination who do not or refuse to raise money with super PACs or major contributions. These candidates claim money corrupts politics. Does it?’

Seemingly ignoring the question, he said, ‘Every major candidate has a super PAC.’ Yet, not all candidates have them, which is why I asked about minor candidates. Buddy Roemer has refused to take money from super PACs or large contributions.

Rove failed to answer whether he found that corporate donations can have undue influence in our political system. His answer, as someone who helps run two super PACs worth tens of millions of dollars, would have been interesting.

The $20,000 spent to have Rove speak and answer questions could have been better spent on a speaker who has more to offer. Rove is a well-known name in politics, but his opinions did not seem much different from his television appearances. Other than a reference to Syracuse University’s basketball team, he had little to say to SU students in particular.

Last year’s major speaker for the College Republicans was Michelle Malkin, a conservative author, blogger and Fox News contributor. She presented an original argument and had an interesting point to make. Though her argument that conservatism has been criminalized was poorly reasoned and unpersuasive, her thoughts made for an engaging experience. 

Rove’s name alone did not make up for a performance the audience could have just as easily watched one evening on Fox.

Harmen Rockler is a junior newspaper journalism and political science major. His column appears every Monday. He can be reached at horockle@syr.edu.   

Published on February 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm