WACO, Texas -- During the last eight years, Karl Rove has been lionized and vilified, heralded as making the unlikely election victories of President Bush possible, and impugned as reaching too high from an unusually powerful White House perch.

In the eyes of his many detractors, he has helped to send the Bush presidency off track in the process.

But in an interview at an IHOP restaurant here, days after he announced his resignation as Bush's top political adviser, Rove defiantly dismissed the rash of fresh critiques that have come his way in the last several days, blaming Democrats for the divisive tone that has dominated Bush's tenure and for which he has frequently taken the blame.

He said he had no regrets over what even some allies have called his greatest missteps, like his trying and failing to pass a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security system at the start of Bush's second term, and the degree to which he seemed to meld partisan politics and official White House policy in his dual duties as a deputy chief of staff and Bush's top political strategist.

He strenuously argued with the dominant characterization of him as the wizard of Oz -- or, with Vice President Dick Cheney, the co-wizard -- behind the curtain of Bush's White House and presidency, declaring, "I'm the facilitator," merely helping Bush as he has sought to shape his own views.

Rove at the same time described himself as an aggressive and studious inside player at the White House who is still one of the four or five officials forming Bush's tight-knit inner circle, but has had to work hard for the position. He dismissed what he called "the idea that I am somehow this all-powerful figure inside the White House."

"What I've learned is that if I want my voice to be heard around the table," Rove said, "it can't simply be, 'Well, he's the long-term associate of Bush from Texas' -- I've got to dig in."

And even as he prepares to leave his job, Rove showed that he is still very much the political maestro trying to corral his party, taking a call from Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, the Republican National Committee chairman, while waiting for a table.

He noted afterward that Martinez had recently been quoted criticizing fellow Republicans on immigration -- questioning the approaches of Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

Rove said he reminded Martinez that the blame should be focused on a Democrat, namely Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, for what Rove characterized as failing to shepherd a comprehensive immigration plan the president supported. (Reid has placed the blame on the White House, saying it failed to forge the political consensus needed to pass the plan.)

There was one stark sign that Rove was truly leaving. He expressed what no White House aide would express publicly, though many very senior officials have shared the sentiment privately: that is, distaste for the president's beloved Scottish terrier, Barney, who is seen by some as aloof and entitled. "Barney's a lump," he joked.

Rove granted the interview as part of a farewell media tour as his detractors -- including many Democrats but also some conservatives -- stepped forward to dispute his legacy.

As Rove left the IHOP for his hotel here in Waco -- some 20 miles from the president's vacation ranch -- it was evident the degree to which he had become a public figure.

He was twice stopped by well-wishers who said they admired him.

Later, Rove sent a note: "I didn't plant the guy at the IHOP or the woman at the hotel, but it would be the subtle personal touch that the Evil Genius would do to throw you off the scent, don't you think?"

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.