David Lienemann/The White House, via Associated Press Vice President Joe Biden jokes with his Communications Director Jay Carney and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in his outer office in the West Wing.
On his second day as White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs found out one thing about the job: there is no honeymoon.
For the 49 minutes he stood at the podium in front of the White House press corps on January 22, 2009, Mr. Gibbs was asked about new lobbying restrictions, the use of TARP money, Iran, Iraq, the lack of bipartisanship in Washington and President Obama’s Blackberry.
He was hammered by the press for failing to allow photographers at Mr. Obama’s second swearing-in with the Chief Justice. And he was grilled about the president’s decision to ban torture and close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.
In a few weeks, Jay Carney, a former Time Magazine bureau chief with more experience doing the asking than the answering, will take over as press secretary from Mr. Gibbs. Mr. Carney, who has spent the last two years as the chief spokesman for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., must develop relationships with three distinct constituencies as he steps into Mr. Gibbs’s shoes.
The first is the public. In the hyper-fast era of Internet video and 24-hour cable news, the White House press secretary is often the face of the administration. The image of Mr. Gibbs in front of the blue White House seal is — probably more than any of his predecessors — ubiquitous.
One clip of a Gibbs briefing titled “WH Press Briefing Room Laughs At A Gibbs Answer” has been viewed 87,533 times. Another entitled “Cell Phones Interrupt White House Briefing” has been viewed 193,937 times. When Mr. Gibbs mocked Sarah Palin for writing on her hand, the clip was viewed more than 75,000 times.
Mr. Carney is hardly used to that kind of public attention. There is no daily briefing for Mr. Biden, and it would probably get little coverage if there were. Most of the YouTube clips of him are from his days as a reporter more than two years ago.
To succeed with the public, Mr. Carney will have to strike the right balance between charm and aggression. As a former “talking head” before he joined Mr. Biden’s staff, Mr. Carney may already have a head start.
“Great choice,” said Mo Elleithee, a Democratic strategist who served as a primary spokesman for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign. “Following Gibbs at the podium is a tough gig, but Jay is a natural fit for this.”
The second group Mr. Carney must woo is the White House press corps. They are naturally distrustful, often grumpy and — if history is a guide — are unlikely to grant him too much deference just because he once sat with them.
In the January 2009 briefing, Mr. Gibbs dodged and weaved repeatedly. He said “not that I’m aware of” three times. He said the second swearing in was done out of “an abundance of caution” — and then had to repeat that 10 times. And 36 times, he started an answer with the word “well,” as in, “Well, again…” or “Well, look…” or “Well, let’s be clear.”
At one point, Major Garrett of Fox News pressed Mr. Gibbs a second time about a national security question.
“And since you said you need to get guidance from the NSC on my first question, is it fair for me then to conclude that it is an open question,” Mr. Garrett asked.
“No,” Mr. Gibbs answered. “It’s fair for you to conclude that I want to make sure I don’t make a mistake. ”
Mr. Gibbs could be hard to locate and sometimes failed to return phone calls or e-mail messages, a habit that often earned him scorn from reporters. But he also empowered his deputies and assistants to provide real answers, which had not been the case in some previous administrations.
Mr. Carney may appreciate that part of the job more, having been a White House reporter who understands the information flow from the receiving end.
But the quality of his relationship with the press may have more to do with how well he manages his third constituency: the president himself.
When Mr. Gibbs spoke, reporters understood that his words carried the weight of the presidency. Mr. Gibbs, who has been speaking for Mr. Obama since the days when it was just the two of them riding around Iowa, was unusually close to the president for a press secretary an served as one of his closest advisers.
When Mr. Obama gathered generals and diplomats in the Situation Room, Mr. Gibbs was there. When the president plotted legislative strategy to pass health care legislation, Mr. Gibbs was in the room. And when Mr. Obama sought counsel for the tough decisions, it was often Mr. Gibbs whose advice he sought last.
Mr. Carney does not have that kind of relationship with the president and, as a newcomer to the Obama inner circle, likely never will.
A senior White House adviser said Mr. Carney will “have all the access he needs to do his job. If he needs to go get a question answered, he has the capacity to go get that question answered directly by the president.” Mr. Carney will go to any meeting he needs to go to, the adviser said.
Ari Fleischer, who served as the first press secretary to President George Bush, said in an interview that Mr. Carney will have the burden of proving to the press that he has the president’s confidence.
“He’ll have that burden,” Mr. Fleischer said. “But that’s an easily overcomeable burden if the president puts you in the right meetings.”
Mr. Fleischer predicted that Mr. Carney will make it known when he is attending those high-level meetings as a way of signaling to the press that he has earned his way into the inner circle. But he said learning to know Mr. Obama like Mr. Gibbs does will take time.
“The hardest thing for Jay is going to be for Jay to quickly learn his new boss’s nuances and especially what his boss doesn’t want him to say,” Mr. Fleischer said. “Jay doesn’t have that. He’s got to get it.”
And, Mr. Fleischer says, he’s got to remember that “he serves two masters, but only one of them pays him.”
In an old clip from CNN, Mr. Carney, then a reporter for Time, talks about the balance between servicing the media and serving the president.
“It’s a tricky job,” Mr. Carney said, “and I’m sure I wouldn’t be any good at it.”
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