Rove, Myers ‘disagree agreeably’ in joint appearance

MOUNT VERNON - Karl Rove would be sleeping better if Hillary Clinton was president.

Rove, widely considered the architect of George W. Bush's presidential victories in 2000 and 2004 and nemesis of all things Democratic, offered a spirited endorsement of a Clinton presidency - as long as the alternative is a Barack Obama presidency.

Not only is the former first lady and current secretary of state more experienced than the current occupant of the White House, but Rove said Clinton holds a “less naive view of the world,” would be more engaged in developing policy, would be more bipartisan and would surround herself with a broader range of advisers.

“I'd be sleeping better than I am now,” Rove told a Cornell College audience last night.

Rove and Dee Dee Myers, press secretary to President Bill Clinton during the first years of his presidency, presented Republican and Democratic points of view during a Delta Phi Rho lecture, “Election 2012: Two Perspectives.”

Myers deferred when asked if Hillary Clinton would be a better president than Obama except to say both of them are better than 2008 GOP nominee John McCain.

Despite their political differences, the former Washington neighbors agreed that they - and everyone engaged in the political process - should be able to “disagree agreeably,” as Myers put it.

Although she believes this is “one of the most dis-spiriting points” in the nation's political history, “we can make it better.”

We can disagree, Rove added, without “disagreeing with the fact that we all care for our country.”

However, it's the differences in how people pursue their goals that “drives a lot of good people out of politics,” Myers said. “A lot of people look at it and say it's just not worth it,” and she doesn't see an end to the negativity.

Rove agreed that the negative aspects of politics and campaigning discourage people from running, “but it's always been thus,” he said. People who care about their country have to “stand up and fight ... (and) take the blows.”

The lecture was the fifth funded by Cornell's Delta Phi Rho Centennial Endowment. Previous speakers were Bob Woodward, Fareed Zakaria, George Stephanopoulos and David Gergen. A group of Delta Phi Rho alumni said they created the lecture series to contribute to the intellectual capital of the college and the community.