Obama's New Voice

Jay Carney's selection as press secretary signals a White House that's less insular and less willing to engage in the political mud fights which plague D.C.

As one Democrat and Obama enthusiast who argued, in the wake of last November’s electoral “shellacking”, that the White House needed a staff shake-up, I have been delighted with the changes announced so far. Starting with Bill Daley as the new Chief of Staff, the newly revamped team is skilled, experienced and tough; it also promises to be much less insular than what we saw in the President’s first two years in office, and that may be the most hopeful sign of all.

One of the more visible changes is Jay Carney stepping in to replace Robert Gibbs as Press Secretary (who, by the way, I thought was very good at the job he was asked to do). Carney, a former national political reporter who most recently served as Vice President Biden’s spokesman, is an interesting and promising choice. By all accounts smart and intellectually nimble (two distinct characteristics), apparently Carney will approach his assignment differently than his predecessor.

According to an article by Sam Youngman in The Hill, the White House aims to have Mr. Obama appearing more “presidential and post-partisan for the next two years”; that, in turn, means that “… [Mr.] Carney will not be tasked with slinging arrows every time former governors and potential 2012 hopefuls Mike Huckabee (Ala.) or Tim Pawlenty (Minn.) take a shot at Obama”. Moreover, according to Youngman, “The thinking is that at some point in the future, Carney will refer those questions to an unnamed campaign spokesman, allowing the White House to try and look focused on governing while the Chicago team handles the political fights.” (emphasis added)

I like this idea a great deal for a couple of reasons. First, much of Barack Obama’s appeal in 2008 was that he was a different kind of politician, and that he wasn’t all that interested in -- and therefore the rest of us would be spared -- the often shrill, silly and/or stupid back and forth that has come to characterize most of the American public conversations and policy debates in the past few decades. That unique Obama attribute somehow got lost between 2008 and November, and recalibrating the White House approach to press commentary may help retrieve it.

Second -- and very much related to the first point -- the voters aren’t always coherent on policy issues (e.g. “cut our taxes but not government services”), but they are consistent on one point: They really believe that they elect men and women to public office so that they will govern us, lead us, and at least convey the impression that they care about the same things we care about. Having the White House avoid, to the maximum extent possible, political mud fights should help the President convince the public that he feels the same way.

Changing the White House Press Secretary’s job description may not by itself save our Republic, but hot damn, it’s a start!

Tweet