Help for Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

President Obama's misguided visit to the White House press room Thursday evening reinforced to many of us just how protected Obama has been from the simple realities of working with the press. "Ahh, see,"  he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens.  I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here." EVERY time I come down here. Well, I guess that ends the party.  

Even the writers and producers of The West Wing knew better than to let the President go slumming in the press corps bull pen... 

My favorite undermining quote of the day:  Obama said he watched his trusted press secretary, Gibbs during his first briefing "in anticipation of some flop sweat.... I just want to thank you for not completely ripping up Gibbs," Obama said. "I'm very proud of him today." Journalists, in my experience, don't like to be thanked for taking it easy on any spokesperson, never mind the White House press secretary.  Their editors usually get a little fussy about such things.

Let me know what you think. Join the conversation.

What's Obama's Rush on Gitmo?

President Obama took the opportunity during his first week in office to make a pledge to close Gitmo in one year--no doubt seeking to mark his first 100 days in office with evidence of Real Change.  What is questionable is how little will change with Obama's public decree to close Gitmo.  Journalists willing to avoid the tough questions will take the photo opp as the story.  A  bold first move. Righteousness and honor.  Except Obama gets the benefit of vowing to close Gitmo, without liberating anyone wrongly detained and without addressing our government's practice of using foreign real estate to interrogate and isolate potential threats from our peace at home.

What Obama has yet to do is denounce the governmental constructs and beliefs that have led to the creation of secret American prisons abroad. Abu Ghraib. Bagram, Afghanistan. Others that you and I may never know of. 

In his attempt to stage the first run of Real Change this week, Obama has confused his priorities on human rights and civil liberties with the idea of "liberty and justice for all."  A muddled sensibility is not what is needed as the world watches our President's response to threats of terrorism and national security.  

It is pure naivete and poor counsel from Obama's staff to ask him to place pen in hand and pose for photos--with so little change from the Bush administration's policies.  Decisive minds would have opened the gates of Gitmo and airlifted the 300 detainees by military aircraft to selected points around the world to complete their travels on commercial airlines, courtesy of the U.S.  

The act of keeping them imprisoned and halting military tribunals will only serve to extend their feelings of mistreatment at the hands of the U.S. and one may expect, fuel feelings of retribution.