The White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten says it’s time for the administration to regain the momentum — and he outlined a variety of measures.
One is sure to raise a firestorm of a controversy if it takes place: ending televised press briefings. If this happens, look for poll numbers to erode more since it will please Republicans and solidify Democratic and exiting independents support of the administration. The reason: it will be portrayed (and seen) as unabashed information control.
Bolten’s comments came in an interview with Fox News network:
It’s time for the White House to go on offense and “get our mojo back.” Josh Bolten said Sunday in his first interview since taking over as the president’s chief of staff.
Bolten made no promises of pulling up President Bush’s all-time low approval ratings, but he said he and Bush have decided they want to be more open with the media and the public.
OK. That’s a useful and positive goal: being more open. Bolten made it clear in the interview that being more open doesn’t necessarily mean the President’s policies are going to change. So how does he suggest regaining the momentum?
“I don’t think we need to change, but we do need to refresh and re-energize,” Bolten said.
For example, he said the White House is “thinking actively” about immigration and putting the president out front on an issue that has split him off from some in his own party. Bolten added that it is vital that the White House communicate effectively about the importance of the fight against terrorism so Americans will support the mission.
So it sounds like it means putting GWB out there to make more public statements and speeches, perhaps taking more definitive stands on those issues.
“What the change does provide is an opportunity for the White House to step back, refresh, re-energize at a time when we’re 5 1/2 years into an administration – normally a slow point, a low point, in many administrations – and a chance for us to get our mojo back, to go back more on the offensive and to get people within the White House to look at our operations, re-energize them for the next six months up through the election, the next 1,000 days through the end of this president’s term,” Bolten said.
In other words, it sounds more like working to ensure a more effective public relations operation — info and explanations that would be more consistent, more efficiently delivered and repeated more often.
And, indeed, there have been complaints from GOPers, including Republicans in Congress, that the administration needs to get its act together in the messages it sends out.
So that sounds like Bolten is responding to criticism that has been out there.
But this next idea spells d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r for the White House:
Bolten said it may be worth considering whether to end the daily televised press briefings where reporters and the press secretary frequently air disputes in front of the cameras, but he will leave that decision up to [newly named press secretary Tony] Snow.
“I think that will be Tony Snow’s first test – to see what kind of power player he really is and whether he’s able to establish the right kind of relationship with the press that we need going forward,” Bolten said, appearing on the same show that Snow hosted for seven years.
Note to Mr. Bolten: the fact is that televised press briefings are now a part of the political/news media culture — and they have been for many years.
If you decide to end them now when the President’s poll numbers are languishing it will be widely interpreted, perceived and portrayed as a sign that the White House is going into hiding mode — trying to avoid the public scrutiny that voters see when they watch a press spokesman stand up to tough (if at times inane and lack-of-follow-up) questioning.
If you or Snow decide to scrap televised press briefings the question will arise:
Then why did the White House feel it had to hire a high-profile communicator like Fox News anchor Snow, anyway, if the idea is to keep his puss off TV screens because unpleasant questions would be shouted out at him? Can’t Tony Snow handle it?
What next: doing away with Presidential press conferences?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.