Karl Rove: Obama Wouldn’t Be President If McKinley Hadn’t Annexed Hawaii

Republican strategist Karl Rove gestures while at a luncheon at the California Republican Party convention, in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, March 2, 2013. Rove told California Republicans to "get off the mat", and... Republican strategist Karl Rove gestures while at a luncheon at the California Republican Party convention, in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, March 2, 2013. Rove told California Republicans to "get off the mat", and to find candidates to reflect the party's diversity. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) MORE LESS

Republican strategist Karl Rove said Monday that President Obama should be “more gracious” to the man whose name he just stripped from North America’s tallest peak.

After all, Rove told Time magazine, it was President McKinley’s administration that annexed Hawaii, making it possible for Obama to be President.

Obama announced Sunday that he would change the name of Mt. McKinley to the Alaska Native name, Denali.

Rove, former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush who is working on a book about President McKinley, told Time that he’d expect Obama to be “more gracious” to the man “who made it possible for him to be President.”

“In a serious vein, I would hope that he would find a gracious way to honor McKinley, who is an important figure in American history. And I’m not certain he has the authority to have done what he did; the designation was granted by law of Congress in 1917,” Rove told the magazine. “In a more jocular way, the guy ought to be more gracious to the guy who made it possible for him to be President.”

Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii, which was annexed in 1898 during McKinley’s presidency.

103
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Haven’t we heard enough about President Denali for one day?

  2. so what are you sayin’ TurdBlossom? that McKinley was in on the conspiracy to make Obama President too?

  3. And Karl Rove wouldn’t exist if his parents hadn’t stupidly had sex.

  4. What’s funny is how Rove was in so many ways the Mark Hanna to GWB’s McKinley…

  5. “…annexed in 1898 during McKinley’s presidency.”

    Annexed? Yeah…well…

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

97 more replies

Participants

Avatar for k_in_va Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for easydm Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for bradbennett Avatar for becca656 Avatar for sandyh Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for captaindan Avatar for sherlock1 Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for johnscotus Avatar for jkrogman Avatar for stradivarius50t3 Avatar for sandollar_man Avatar for hoagie Avatar for azjude Avatar for darrtown Avatar for zlohcuc Avatar for jsj20002 Avatar for beattycat Avatar for castorita

Continue Discussion