After a stinging loss in Massachusetts, miserable polling and ever-lower expectations for the November midterm elections, there has been plenty of advice going around for Democrats. Last week, I counted no less than five such articles and editorials in Sunday’s Washington Post.
Miraculously, President Barack Obama seems to be changing the game. His State of the Union address, high-speed rail announcement and “question time” at the GOP retreat were three powerful wins in a row for him and for the Democratic party.
But not all is well and good. To fully recover from the recent tailspin of negative coverage, one person in particular needs to straighten up. The Obama administration’s main spokesman for the press, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, simply hasn’t been doing his job well. I’ve got some tips.
Dear Mr. Gibbs,
Quit pissing off the press. Sound complicated? It’s not.
It’s no secret the Obama White House has been getting more and more negative coverage by the press in recent days. Sure, there’s a lot of bad news being steered in your direction, but a press that gets along well with the press secretary might be a bit more inclined to break bad news more gently.
The press isn’t irritated with President Obama himself. Nor are they against his policies. Many journalists, statistically speaking, lean left anyway. In fact, I’m sure they quite like him as a person, too. According to a poll from late December, 58 percent of all Americans hold a favorable opinion of him personally.
This is all about the communicator. That’s you, Mr. Gibbs. You’re getting on their nerves, and because of that, you’re failing at your job to communicate White House policy effectively. Two weeks ago Dana Milbank at the Washington Post wrote a scathing column criticizing your “usual mix of wisecracks of insults,” your “glib Gibbs gibes,” and referring to you as “smart-alecky” and “combative.” Not good.
Then the weekend after that, liberal MSNBC news and radio host Ed Schultz told the nation about an unpleasant encounter with you. He told you that you were “full of sh-t”, and then you dropped the f-bomb right back.
Now you’re saying Mr. Schultz was misleading viewers in order to “get viewers to watch his show.” Not cool, Mr. Gibbs. Not cool at all.
There are three things you need to do to get out of the White House Press Corps’ doghouse.
First, quit being so political. You’re the press secretary. Yes, you should defend the administration, but you’re not campaigning anymore. Give them the news, answer the questions and spin as necessary. Don’t campaign — you already work in the White House; you can worry about re-election next year. Focus on your message, not everyone else’s.
Secondly, chillax. Not every question is an attack on Obama, and if you keep snapping at the media, they aren’t going to be nice to you in their columns that they write in newspapers with far more readers than this one.
Finally, give the press the respect they deserve. These people are keeping you relevant. And for the most part, they’re also being nice to the Obama administration; in 2009 they gave you the most balanced coverage in history, about 49 percent positive and 51 percent negative, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs. If you want anything close to that in 2010, you’d better shape up.
Your bad attitude only results in one thing and that’s more columns like this. Obama’s doing a nice job recovering — don’t ruin it for him.
Alex Priest is a junior in the School of Communication and Kogod School of Business and a liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
