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One of the major misconceptions about the White House press secretary’s role is to assume that he has more power than he really does. Because he is always the president’s public face, we assume that he is our window into the White House and is a top level policy official or, at least, the one who knows what is doing on. Nothing could be further from the truth.
McClellan’s book is neither right nor wrong. It is just ill-informed. In the Clinton White House, for example, Mike McCurry, perhaps the best press secretary of our generation, never attended white house political strategy meetings. At first, he wasn’t invited. And then, he said he didn’t want to know what he couldn’t talk about. Finally, Clinton insisted that he attend.
In the Bush White House, where policy on defense and national security issues is likely more divorced from political strategizing than it was in the Clinton Administration, the press secretary is two steps removed. The political types are kept out of national security issues and the press secretary isn’t privy to either the national security process or the political strategy.
To grasp the limitations on the role of the White House Press Secretary, think of him as the media’s ambassador to the White House, rather than as the president’s ambassador to the media. Thinking of the job this way reveals how much of an outsider the typical press secretary usually is.
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Dick: You mentioned that McClellan’s book is neither right or wrong, just ill-informed and ill-informed usually leads to ill-served. Whether right or wrong, I think that McClellan’s book is all about “money.” Now he is painted by the media as Bush loyalist who defected and some that say his book should have been focus on the presidental staff rather than the President. Books are sometimes written on fine lines of “facts or fiction” and it is the reader who must make the distinction. One thing for sure is that when money “speaks”, the truth is often silent. The timing could not have been more perfect for the release…and this is going to have an negative impact on McCain’s campaign and McCain will be defending those Bush aadministration decisions that he supports now and until the general election. McClellan’s book resembles the double edge sword……it is cutting both ways….
PS…By the way…….saw you on O’Reilly last night……great interview…..so O’Reilly said indirectly that if the media business changes that he would like work for Dick Morris.com……what a compliment to you…..and what a great match that would be……hire him!!!!!!
Although I have not read the book, it sounds like McClellan’s book is simply an attempt to sell old news with a new byline. I wouldn’t be surprized if the book was largely ghost written. Given his occupation and resume, this book was probably a good career move for McClellan. There are probably more job openings for him in the Liberal media than the Conservative leaning media. He may have lost some friends, but he will make some money, if anyone buys the book, and he will be able to find a job.
[…] to do to make a quick buck nowadays, though, whether he was actually privy to what was going on or not. Posted in Media. Tags: Condi Rice, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, karl rove, News, Politics, Press […]
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