Karl Rove stressed the economy, health care, spending and the deficit as the critical issues for the 2012 presidential election to a packed audience in Call Auditorium April 13 while criticizing the Obama administration's plans for the economy and health care.

Rove, the senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush until 2007, has been credited with strategizing Bush's successful 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. Now a contributing political analyst to Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, Rove predicted that the 2012 race would be a "really interesting election" because it would be the first in modern times when there was no clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

According to Rove, the way candidates address concerns about the economy will be central in gaining approval from the public. He criticized the Obama economic stimulus plan as "fundamentally flawed right from the get-go" and claimed that the current administration was responsible for incurring debt at an even faster rate than the Bush administration. Rove argued that the economic plan was poorly designed because it did not focus on what stimulated the economy. He warned that it would lead the country down the "same path as Greece."

Obama's health care plan is similarly flawed, said Rove, who called the plan full of "perverse disincentives" and "Bernie Madoff style economics." Instead of increasing health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans as promised, Rove said the plan was actually causing seniors to lose coverage, forcing employers to cut coverage to their employees because it was too expensive, and compelling doctors who refused to work under the Affordable Care Act to discontinue their practices.

The Republican candidate must craft an articulate narrative around the four big issues, he said -- jobs and the economy, spending, deficit and health care -- that make up the "toxic stew for 2012," said Rove. The candidate must also appeal to Democrats and Republicans alike, said Rove.

"People want to know: Are you going to be able to bring us together at the end of this?" he said. He cited Obama and Ronald Reagan as examples of past candidates who were able to create a strong following by remaining centrist and drawing bipartisan support.

The event was presented by the Cornell College Republicans and sponsored by the Cornell University Program Board.

Joyce Wu '13 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.