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Opinion: Karl Rove has nice things to say about whom? (His initials are B.O.)

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John McCain, of course.

But also Barack Obama.

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The GOP political strategist and Fox News commentator who guided George W. Bush into two terms in the Texas governor’s office and two terms in the Oval Office was not entirely negative about the Illinois senator’s eight-day trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and three European allies.

Obama was ‘on the same stage with world leaders,’ Rove said Sunday. He ‘dominated the media’ for more than a week. His 16-month withdrawal timeline from Iraq did get Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s ‘semi-endorsement.’ And he had ‘huge crowds’ in Germany.

All this ‘did shore up his standing,’ Rove said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

Then the fellow once dubbed ‘Bush’s brain’ -- who now works as an analyst at Fox News, where ‘fair and balanced’ is part of the job description -- took a look at the other side.

The trip’s opening visual -- Obama hitting a three-point shot in Afghanistan -- may not be ‘the best image if you want to say ‘I’m a world leader.’ ‘ Obama’s continued opposition to the troop surge ‘that made success in Iraq possible’ is ‘hard to fathom.’

Voters could be put off by the ‘hint of arrogance’ when Obama staffers ‘demanded that they be -- that he be treated as a -- as the occupant of the White House, with White House rules’ on anonymity for their comments.

The huge crowds were ‘in Germany, and he’s running for president of the United States, not president of Europe.’ Finally, the Berlin speech was ‘vacuous ... I’m not certain there was much ‘there’ there.’

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Rove’s conclusion about the trip: ‘So on balance, I think, short-term plus. But potentially a long-term -- long-term, it might not make that big a difference for him.’

Our friends over at The Swamp have more to report on Rove’s remarks.

-- Leslie Hoffecker

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