Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist, gave a hint of his strategy for the midterm elections on Monday when he charged the Democrats with obstructionism on judicial nominations and national security and predicted Republicans would be "just fine".

In a rare public speech at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr Rove, who last month was stripped of his oversight of policy to focus on politics and the November election, conceded there had been corrosive impact on US optimism owing to the Iraq war.