In his weekly column for the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove has written about how Obama is jeopardizing his chances for re-election by appearing too liberal or too populist, and that if he doesn't change his ways he'll turn off independent and “blue collar” voters.

The exercise is a bit silly since Rove, a professional partisan, wants Obama to lose re-election and wants Democrats to lose touch with independents. So why this charade about offering up sincere advice?

Well, now we know have clear evidence the advice isn't honest and that Rove's Journal column is something of a farce.

From Talking Points Media [emphasis added]:

American Crossroads, the big money GOP group founded by Karl Rove, is warning Republicans that President Obama's new campaign to raise taxes on millionaires is a political winner.

Under the header “Obama's New Class Warfare May Resonate,” the group's director, Steven Law, cited their own polling data in a strategy memo to argue that the White House was gaining ground with its proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy.

“It may be the result of larger environmental conditions, or he may be moving the needle himself, but Obama's 'tax the rich' mantra is getting traction,” Law wrote.

So partisan Republican operatives who work for a Karl Rove-founded group are nervous that Obama's recent turn to the left, and specifically his more populist rhetoric about taxing millionaires, “is getting traction.”

But that sure doesn't square with Rove's recent observations in the Wall Street Journal. In one column he warned that Obama “damages himself” politically by “engaging in class warfare to push trillions in tax increases.” And a deeply concerned Rove assured Democrats that in order for “the president to reconnect with the swing voters he desperately needs for victory,” he had to avoid populist rhetoric.

Note to Democrats: Ignore Rove's advice.