Karl Rove writes that he doesn't hate President Obama

Mar 5, 2010 — USA Today

If we didn't know better, we'd think former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove is trying to drive a wedge between President Obama and one of his high-profile advisers, Valerie Jarrett.

A story about Obama and Jarrett is a highlight of Rove's new book, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. It's not in stores yet, but copies are floating around, and our friends at Politico provided Karl's comments about Obama.

It began in 2005, when Rove confronted then-Sen. Barack Obama for writing that Rove and other young conservatives used phrases like, "we are a Christian nation." Writes Rove:

I certainly don't believe and have never said, 'We are a Christian nation.'... [Obama] began insisting he rally wasn't saying what he had quoted me as saying ... [H]e was unwilling to acknowledge the mistake or apologize.

Flash forward to the 2008 White House Correspondents dinner, where Rove and Jarrett sat at the same table:

During the dinner, Jarrett e-mailed Obama on her BlackBerry to let him know she was breaking bread with Satan himself. He e-mailed her back and Jarrett made the mistake of showing Jon and me his reply, which was 'Rove hates me.' I knew Senator Obama was alluding to our run-in over the passage in his book. I asked Jarrett to tell him I wasn't in the habit of hating people.

Glad we got that cleared up.