By Xinhua
Washington : Karl Rove, US President George W. Bush’s top political advisor and close friend, will step down from his White House post at the end of the month, senior administration officials confirmed Monday.
“Obviously it’s a big loss to us,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.
“He is a great colleague, a good friend and a brilliant mind,” she added.
Perino said Rove “wouldn’t be going if he wasn’t sure this is the right time to be giving more time to his family.”
The president and Rove are expected to speak before Bush heads to his ranch in Texas where he will remain for the rest of the week.
Rove announced his decision in an interview published by the Wall Street Journal Monday. “I just think it’s time,” Rove said.
“There’s always something that can keep you here, and as much as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my family,” he added.
Bush nicknamed Rove “the architect” for creating the plan that won him the White House in 2000 and 2004.
Rove told the newspaper that he would leave Washington to return to Texas and that he had first suggested the idea of leaving a year ago.
However, a series of problems for the Bush administration, starting when the Democrats took control of Congress last November and then as immigration and the Iraq war topped the agenda, forced him to stay on, he said.
Rove also claimed his hand was forced when White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten announced that any senior staff working past Labour Day (Sep 3) would be expected to stay on until the end of Bush’s term.