Political adviser Karl Rove has been credited with the successful design of President Bush's re-election strategy. Now that he's embroiled in the Valerie Plame security furor, he should do the right thing and resign his White House post.

If he's unmotivated to do so for the good of the country, then he should act as a personal favor to the president he helped put into office.

Surely other GOP powerbrokers are working behind the scenes to coax Rove along this path.

The leak leading to the identification of CIA operative Plame in 2003 press reports has led to a media and congressional uproar that can't be good for the president or his party.

Of course, some Democrats are urging Bush to follow through on a pledge to sack anyone tarred by the Plame affair. It would be the height of arrogance for Rove to force the president into that position. Bush has shown himself loyal to his support team — loyal to a fault, at least in the case of the John Bolton U.N. nomination — and is unlikely to cut Rove loose until all the facts are in.

And the odds are that he can elude prosecution on the security felony, a charge that hasn't stuck in most past cases.

The burden of proof required — that Rove knowingly revealed an identity that the government is actively trying to conceal — is heavy. Because Rove previously disavowed any involvement in the leak, however, his adversaries may dig into Ken Starr's bag of disreputable tricks and try to hang a perjury charge on him instead.

Waiting out the prosecutorial process will merely allow the din over the scandal to escalate, providing more grist for political wrangling and erasing any hope that Congress can accomplish real work during the summer doldrums. So if Rove is smart (and we all know that he is), he will find the nearest White House exit and fight this battle without dragging Bush down with him.