Jennifer Rubin writes that there’s a very simple way for President Obama to change the surface tone of his administration — get a new press secretary:
The Obama team has brought its style of Chicago politics — nontransparent, corrupt, undemocratic, and bullying — to Washington. It makes no effort to conceal it; instead it showcases it every day from the White House press room. Gibbs in that regard is the perfect face for the Obama White House — arrogant and just plain boorish.
So if Obama is looking to turn over a new leaf — and it’s not sure that he is — or even if he wants to present a more appealing image to the voters, he’d do well to dump Gibbs. There have been some pretty good Democratic press secretaries (Mike McCurry among the best), so they should be able to come up with another mouthpiece. The message is a different problem, but the least they can do is find a less obnoxious messenger.
Will Obama take such advice, or, to mix metaphors, double down and yell full steam ahead? Moderation is a lot tougher when you’re a politician with two toxic problems — your disdainful worldview is far to the left of the American people as a whole, and as Jim Geraghty adds, you’re a neophyte at governing, with little knowledge of how to reverse course after experiencing political rejection.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member