Rove, celebs have heated debate | Chicago Tribune
Here's this week's hot topic on the liberal/conservative punditblogs: Sheryl Crow picks a fight with Karl Rove. She tells him "You work for me." He tells her "No, I work for the American people." Um, dude, you told her to her face that you don't think she's an American. This is the root problem that the neoconservatives have foisted on the rest of our country – they think they're more American than the rest of us.
He probably thinks she’s Canadian. 😛
That said, and making the huge leap that Rove is a dedicated public servant, it’s not a simple distinction (“You work for me”/”I work for the People”) to keep clear. The needs/wants of the one perforce give way to the needs/wants of the many in a representative democracy. Rove does work for Crow, but also for you, and me, and Rush, and Charlton Heston, and my Mom, and … so making some point that “You work for me” doesn’t (beyond the realm of politeness) mean much more than a stockholder in the corporation I work for coming to me and saying, “You work for me — so can you please fix my computer?”
In other words, it’s not that he thinks she’s not an American — it’s that she’s not his sole constituent, and her being a celeb with access doesn’t make her complaint or discussion points any more meaningful than mine or yours.
I’m also not sure what the proper protocol is for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner — is it expected that folks will go up to the WH reps and engage in discussions? Can Rove go and ask Crow for an autograph?
I’ve little doubt that Rove probably behaved badly (I don’t know enough about the other participants to hazard a guess), but the “who works for whom” question bears more discussion than simply (if possibly accurately) cubbyholing Rove as an elitist neocon (which he’s not — he’s an elitist oligarch, regardless of the policy involved).