(CBS/AP) White House political adviser Karl Rove sees encouraging signs for the GOP in the public's strong negative opinions of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Democratic-run Congress, he said Sunday on Face the Nation.

"I feel good about these men," said Rove, who just resigned his post as President Bush's chief political strategist. "I feel good about their message."

Rove, who is considered the mastermind behind Bush's victories in 2000 and 2004 has a vested interest in the outcome of the 2008 election, after predicting he could build a long-term Republican majority, only to watch as Democrats swept Republicans from power in Congress in voting last year.

Rove disputed suggestions that his brand of politics was intended to play to the Republican base and demonize political opponents. He said the White House won bipartisan support on issues ranging from education and tax cuts and the war in Iraq. But, Rove said strong Democratic resentment of Bush blocked other efforts like immigration and Social Security reform.

"There's some Democrats who never accepted him as president after 2000," Rove told Bob Schieffer. "And there's some Democrats who said, 'You know, the bright path for their party was to obstruct him no matter what.'"

Rove defended his political tactics, which opponents have labeled as divisive.

"You cannot be a candidate like President Bush was in 2004 and get 60 million votes for president, more than any other candidate for president in history," he said. "I know the opposition talks about playing to the base, and I want them to keep thinking that's the right strategy. But you win elections like this president won in 2000 and 2002 and 2004 by broadening the coalition, by getting more people to register and to vote and by persuading people who might have been inclined to the other side to come across for you."

Rove announced last week he would leave the Bush administration by the end of August, return to Texas and spend more time with his family. He said he would leave others to judge the impact of his legacy.

Rove's effect on American politics will be decided by "how the president is judged," said GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who also appeared on Face The Nation.

"And I think the president's going to be judged on what happens, to a large degree what happens in the war in Iraq," McCain said.

As Democratic hopefuls held a debate in Iowa, Rove appeared on three Sunday morning talk shows and stepped up his criticism of Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady.

"She enters the primary season with the highest negatives of any front-runner since the history of polling began," he said. "She has more people who have an unfavorable impression of her than have a favorable impression. And not just in one poll, but in multiple polls."

Clinton, at the debate, responded to Rove's criticism by saying: "I don't think Karl Rove is going to endorse me, but I find it interesting that he's obsessed with me."

Rove said he believes she will get the Democratic nomination, but evaded a question during the broadcast interviews about whether the GOP wanted Clinton to win the Democratic nomination.

"It is what it is," Rove said. "You know, in politics, you can only hope about things that you've got some control over. I'm not voting in the Democratic primary. That's up to Democrats to do."

Top Republican strategists have said in the past that they aimed their harshest comments in 2004 at Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the eventual nominee, because they wanted Bush to take on Kerry rather than John Edwards, then a senator from North Carolina. Edwards ended up as Kerry's running mate.

Rove disputed that strategy was behind his criticism of Clinton. He said that if Republicans want to win, the nominee must have a "positive, forward-looking, optimistic agenda for the future of the country."

"They have candidates who can carry the message with conviction and passion," he said. "We've got at least four big ones and maybe others. Senator McCain, Mayor Giuliani, Senator Thompson, Governor Romney — these men will be able to articulate that message."

Rove also disputed any suggestion that the president is a lame duck.

"He didn't come here simply to hold the office," Rove said. "He's going to continue to pursue a bold agenda at home and abroad. And he's got 17 months to get a lot of things done. He's going to be using every lever available to the president, which is considerable, to get things done right up to the end."

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