Former Bush administration official and Republican strategist Karl Rove told a Toledo audience Monday that the U.S. faces three major issues after this fall’s mid-term election: a sluggish economy, out-of-control entitlements such as health care and Social Security, and a world in which terrorists, Russia, and China are threats.

“There are going to be issues the country has to deal with, no matter who wins the election,” said Mr. Rove, who spoke at a lectern on an otherwise empty stage at the University of Toledo’s Doermann Theatre.

Heading into the Nov. 4 general election, Rove’s Republican Party is aiming to take control of the now-Democratic Senate, while maintaining control of the Republican-majority House of Representatives.

“The next Congress, whether it’s a Democrat or Republican Senate, the country had better come to grips with these problems because the biggest advantage we have is time. You make modest changes today, and you make [Social Security] sustainable for decades to come, but we’re chewing through time,” Mr. Rove said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for more photos from the address

Mr. Rove was President Bush’s senior adviser for seven years. He is the first speaker in the 2014-2015 academic year’s Jesup Scott Honors College Distinguished Lecture Series.

In referring to the economy, Mr. Rove said it took until May of this year to get back to the number of jobs the country had before the Great Recession, and he said median income is still lower than it was.

He said energy independence is still not achieved.

“We can get all of the gas we need from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and stop importing it from places where they hate our guts,” Mr. Rove said, a line that earned him an applause interruption.

He spoke for about 20 minutes and then answered questions that the were submitted in advance.

He called for American troops to join the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Iraq.

While Mr. Rove applauded the President for the military steps he took last week to address the ISIS threat, he said, “you cannot degrade and destroy ISIS from 12,000 feet with bombs.”

“How are you going to take back Mosul with strategic bombing?” Mr. Rove said. He said there will have to be American-trained spotters on the ground to direct the bombing because the Iraqis can’t do it.

“You’re going to have to have U.S. military in the front lines or near the front lines, and they’re going to have to be in harm's way. I hate to say that,” Mr. Rove said.

Speaking again of political strategies at home, Mr. Rove said the GOP should strive to prevent Latinos becoming overwhelmingly Democrat the way African-Americans are.

“The idea that you have to appeal to Hispanics is absurd. You have to appeal to Texans,” Mr. Rove, a graduate of the University of Texas, said in jocular response to one question.

The way to do it is emphasize fiscal responsibility, social values, and a strong defense, he said, claiming Texas Republicans enjoy 40 percent of the Latino vote.

He said Mitt Romney got 27 percent of the Latino vote nationwide in the 2012 election, but got 43 percent in battleground Ohio because “he was here so much and so often and talked about the economy so much that Latinos said he may have said that stupid thing about self-deportation but he’s going to grow the economy and create jobs,” Mr. Rove said.

As sometimes happens at Mr. Rove’s public appearances, protesters picketed the event, accusing Mr. Rove of war crimes for his part in the Bush administration’s justification for the invasion of Iraq and torture of detainees.

About 15 protesters, mostly appearing to be students, held signs with such messages as “No honor in war crimes” in the lobby outside University Hall’s Doermann Theatre.

Graduate student Shahrazad Hamdah, 21, said, “We are protesting the University of Toledo’s decision [to invite Mr. Rove] because of his record of war crimes in Iraq.”

UT political science Professor Renee Heberle distributed a flyer criticizing Mr. Rove because of her objections to the way he runs political campaigns, with what she contends is a disregard for the truth and an interest only in winning.

“I think Karl Rove has damaged our capacity to have fair and reasonable campaigns,” Ms. Heberle said.

Contact Tom Troy at: tomtroy@theblade.com, 419-724-6058, or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published September 16, 2014, 4:58 a.m.