This post was written by Hatchet Staff Writer Justin Kits.

Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, called Tuesday’s Republican overhaul of the House of Representatives a “remarkable” event during a discussion with the College Republicans Friday.

The Fox News contributor also discussed what the future holds for President Barack Obama during his appearance in Jack Morton Auditorium.

“It’s going to be a long time until we see an election like Tuesday,” Rove said, calling the Republican victories “pretty remarkable.”

Rove, in his first appearance on campus since 2008, said the Republicans won Tuesday’s election because of new voters and a wave of conservatism spreading throughout the country.

People who had never voted in previous midterms elections cast their ballot this year, Rove said, because they were motivated by Tea Party sentiment. He also said Americans are becoming more conservative, citing a poll that showed a 9 percent increase in voters identifying as conservative.

The midterm elections were a “direct rebuke to the president’s policies,” he said. “Not the president personally, they kind of like him, but his policies.”

Independents also reacted to the tone of Obama, Rove said, noting that the president began to vilify his opposition in the 2010 elections.

“This election means the end of Obama’s liberal agenda,” Rove said. “There is no way he is going to be able to pass his big ideas that he’s passed in the last two years.”

Rove said he doesn’t know if Obama will be re-elected in 2012, but if he is it will be based on the health of the economy.  He added that Obama will have to work with Republicans to produce any real growth.

In response to a question about what CRs can do on campus to spread the conservative message, Rove said that they had already done the most important thing.

“It is socially acceptable to be a College Republican,” Rove said.