And new, younger, former Washington Bureau Chief of Time magazine Jay Carney is in.
Why might that be?
I suspect it is this: Gibbs has carried more than his fair share of water for Mr Obama. And because he still may possess a bit of his goodness extant, he concluded that he has reached so-called “threshold.” One can only tell so many lies and prevarications and stall and delay and — at the same time — realize that the official stories told do not even remotely correspond to the actual fact patterns — before some Truths actually start to emerge. And bother.
I submit that Gibbs, over time, couldn’t align these projects with reality and, resultingly, decided (wisely, I believe) to logically withdraw. He had carried all the water possible; time to install Fresh and Ignorant Meat.
Mr Gibbs, in my opinion, saw the future writing on the wall. He could only lie and stall and deflect so much. Otherwise, he would be on board for not only the entire current administration but the potential subsequent one as well. It would be politically and fiscally rewarding. If one cannot benefit, then one recedes or withdraws. If Mr Obama was in The Winning Thrust then Mr Gibbs would have stuck through thick and thin.
Yet Gibbs chose to exit. That bespeaks volumes. Mr Gibbs may have truly possessed, in concert, an actual heart and a soul.
Gibbs, at times, reminded me of Baghdad Bob. The job was that difficult.
That is, if he believed in it. And there’s The Catch.
Carney, communications director for VP Biden, had a leg up and over everyone else: the Number Two Position Recommended.
Inside Job.
“Officially:”
Full list of White House staff transitions announced today:
* Ron Bloom, Assistant to the President for Manufacturing Policy (National Economic Council)
* Jay Carney, Assistant to the President and Press Secretary
* Stephanie Cutter, Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor
* Nancy-Ann DeParle, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
* David Lane, Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Chief of Staff
* Alyssa Mastromonaco, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations
* Rob Nabors, Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs
* Emmett Beliveau, Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Chief of Staff
* Jon Carson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Engagement
* Danielle Crutchfield, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Scheduling and Advance
* David Cusack, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Advance
* Mike Strautmanis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic Engagement to the Senior Advisor
* Jessica Wright, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Scheduling
* Brian Deese, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council
BZ
BZ, I don’t think Gibbs left because he has a heart and a soul. He has an ego and doesn’t want to look like the schmuch he is when the house of cards comes falling down. Just my opinion.
I think you are so right about Fresh Ignorant Meat.
Maggie: yes, a massive ego, because that’s what it takes. But that’s a bit of my point: why are people leaving the most successful, brilliant, positive and intelligent president in history?
Unless. . . . ?
BZ
BZ
I wonder how many of those positions listed are authorized by law and what law(s) give those occupants power to issue orders? Do they do it in the name of the President?
I suspect that Gibbs has seen something in BHO that he can’t abide. Gibbs has glimpsed the monster behind the mask.
I wonder if Gibbs will pen a memoir about his time serving the Obama administration.
i thought i read that gibbs left to take on the re-election task…he’s heading up the obama machine, right?
WSF: that is an EXCELLENT question that begs the necessary answers!
AOW: he may, but I doubt he’ll betray his philosophy. And fundamentally his philosophy is mostly aligned. I suspect, however, that, once inside, he didn’t much care to learn how you REALLY make sausage.
BZ
I say Carney lasts six months; he’s a little *hit and a lightweight.