by Frank James
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs sat down with the Washington Post reporter Lois Romano to talk about the demands of his new job, the different approach the White House is taking to what media organizations get called on at press conferences and his cuff links.
There's some interesting information on how President Barack Obama refines policy ideas with aides. He likes them to push back against him and against each other, to test their arguments since he may wind up having to use them when he eventually explains a policy publicly. Gibbs believes that may have a lot to do with Obama's having taught law school presumably because cogently arguing for one's ideas is generally the rule there. An excerpt:
I think the President, he both enjoys and gets a lot of benefit out of watching somebody defend their position because if that's the position of the President, then he's going to have to defend that position.
Then there's a discussion about the president's new TelePrompter which is a large screen at the back of the room instead of the two clear plastic panels at the side of the presidential podium.
Gibbs says the change, first seen at this week's prime-time news conference, "was a way of talking directly to the American people." In otherwords, the White House figured out that it was weird to have Obama never look directly into the camera at these events. The audience watching at home only got to see the side of his head with the other TelePrompters.
It's amazing that it took a communications team that's usually so good at such details to realize the problem but at least it happened early enough to be chalked up among the 100-day achievements.
Gibbs also essentially says don't blame him if he winds up trashing Rush Limbaugh or Rick Santelli of CNBC. Reporters ask him questions about Limbaugh and Santelli and he answers, it's that simple.
MR. GIBBS: Well, you know, it's interesting, I got asked about Rush Limbaugh. I got asked about Dick Cheney. I'm happy to begin to ignore questions that I don't want to answer. I'm not sure the press would think that's a good idea. I get asked questions about CNBC. I get--you know.Look, one of the things that's inherent in my job is I don't get to choose what questions I'm asked. I think that's the beauty of the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, and that's fine with me.
Comments
Find him demeaning to those who are asking question, not professional.
Boring delivery.
Posted by: Dorian | March 27, 2009 4:41 PM
Ah, err, umm, pause - chuckle, snort. Another press conference of Robert Gibbs.
Posted by: vla | March 27, 2009 5:05 PM
James,
I can read of your post without knowing your the author just by the snarky language about the teleprompter. Despite your assertion that it was weird that Obama never looked into the camera, not only is that not true 100% of the time, when he didn't look into the camera, I really didn't notice.
I also find it interesting that Obama has been using a teleprompter during his stump speeches for the past two years, and yet, it wasn't until recently that you took your cues from right wing critics about the whole teleprompter issue. If you think this is really important then fine, but please stop trying to pass of this criticism like it is an original thought.
Oh, and the best thing about Gibbs is that he underhandedly makes his interviewer/questioner look like a fool. This interview was exhibit A. People are wondering why newspapers are going out of business--this interview by a major publication provides an instructive case in point.
Posted by: TW | March 27, 2009 6:14 PM