"Our Karl Rove is the blog you should be glad that Democratic strategists don't seem to listen to"
-- what they're saying on Republican blogs

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Our Karl Rove Blog - Revered, Reviled, Retired (*sort of)

Democrats,

On September 3, 2004, I began my career in public political analysis by launching Kerry's Karl Rove. Despite my hard work, and what I believe were the insights required to change the outcome of the race, John Kerry lost the election.

After the Kerry loss, the Democratic party felt hollow -- lacking in any unifying vision that could gain mass appeal, and, importantly, lacking the communications and marketing savvy that we saw displayed by a Rove-powered White House. I felt the need to continue to serve, so I transformed Kerry's Karl Rove into Our Karl Rove. It was at Our Karl Rove where I felt a binding synergy with the needs of the flailing Democratic party, which enabled me to propose innovative solutions to many of the Democrats' most pressing political problems.

For example:

With the Democrat's prospects looking bright, OKR had some fun -- and worked to help all Democratic candidates equally -- during the 2008 campaign:

Blogging as Our Karl Rove has been quite a rewarding experience, and has gotten me closer to political strategy and messaging than I ever would have imagined: Thousands of readers visited every month, I received a steady stream of kudos and attention from many in the blogosphere (which I deeply appreciate), and political campaigns used my talking points and even reach out to me directly for advice (which was rewarding).

It's been a great run, and while there is certainly much more work to do to make progressive values mainstream in this country, Barack Obama has proven to have the gift of leadership and communication that I was trying to fill from the sidelines with this blog.

So, I am pleased to announce that, coinciding with the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America, I have decided to retire Our Karl Rove. [*Update: while the blog has been retired, Our Karl Rove has been revived on Twitter! OKR tweets are posted on the homepage of this blog, and are available here or here.]

What was learned and honed here will not retire, however. I will keep this blog on-line as a resource for other strategists and communicators to mine. In addition, I plan on using what I've learned and developed here to power my broader political analysis and punditry over at my new blog, Between the Columns. At BTC, I will be blogging as myself, not as the character "Our Karl Rove." As a result, there will be a difference in style, content and approach. But in this era of Obama, it feels like the right shift in strategy and tone. I welcome you to visit Between the Columns, and subscribe if you like what you see.

I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who has been a subscriber, contributor or mere passerby of Our Karl Rove over the past four years. Please feel free to use the comments section below to share your parting thoughts, as this post will likely be the homepage of OKR for quite some time.

Cheers,

Jon a.k.a. "Our Karl Rove"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your tireless work on this blog. It has been enjoyable and interesting to follow your rhetorical masterclass, with lessons applicable not just to politics but to many lines of business and walks of life.

Congratulations on this historic day!

Unknown said...

Bravo! Job well done. Now I'm going to go subscribe to your other blog. Time to turn the page, indeed.

Graham said...

OKR is dead - long live BTC!

I've thoroughly enjoyed your enlightening pieces as OKR. I've already been following Between the Columns, and will continue to do so. Great work!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the blog. The timing was excellent for it provided a clear message at times when others were not providing it.

I had fun using your lines in other places. They tended to stand out among the blather.

See you at BTC!

roosterbear said...

Thank you so much for your unselfishly given clarity and insight over the past four years. Eras like the Bush administration can only suceed when their opposition is dispirited, disorganized and stifled, and I believe those adjectives are fair descriptions of the Democratic party for much of this decade. You have done a great service to your country and to democracy. I'll miss the perspective of this blog (especially the snark), but I agree that its time has passed, its mission has been largely achieved, and it's time to move on to the next chapter. Best wishes to BTC!