There is no way that the main news story of the day does not get a post here on Caffeinated Politics.
As I write this entry it once again is required that I lift a line off a wall plaque that my parents gave me when I turned age thirteen in 1974. The line is not great verse nor meant to be. The message is simple and straightforward.
“Don’t let the crowd pressure you; stand for something or you’ll fall for anything”.
That plaque hangs in my closet where I see it daily when I pull a knit shirt off a shelf. Spicer should have had one given to him as teenager, too.
To say the least it has been a wild six months for Spicer. He is as known to most folks in the land as their own senators–perhaps and sadly so–perhaps more. He was the source of many late night jokes and a truly hilarious series of spoofs thanks to Melissa McCarthy, on Saturday Night Live. Spicer came to be known for all the wrong reasons, however.
He came to the top of the known names and faces for losing his credibility.
The most important part of the job of any White House spokesperson is to have credibility. History shows how the words, that others who have held that job, have made markets move, foreign leaders respond, and news tickers beep in newsrooms around the country.
So from his first full day on the job, when Spicer sparred with reporters about the size of the inauguration crowds–in spite of facts that showed the exact opposite–he lost that one thing that was not recoverable. He was told what to do by President Trump, and instead of doing what a solid-minded person in the role of spokesperson should have done–provide honest information–Spicer instead took the road of lies and landed into his own self-created mess. In the process he became a national joke.
He is not the first or last one to latch onto Trump and find that there is no safe place to be, no possible way to pick junk up by the clean end, or remove the tarnish or stain that comes when one gets too close to what our parents told us to stay clear of.
The very first time that Spicer said one thing to the press only to have minutes later Trump take a contradictory position is when the spokesman should have walked into the Oval Office and laid down the law. Trump needed an older brother to beat some sense into him, and failing that now needs a White House staff that can do the same.
What has happened to Spicer has been a national series of embarrassments. Spicer could no longer travel with Trump. Then he no longer gave press briefings, with that duty going to deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is the worst person ever to step before a camera in the press room. She needs so much help and advice about how to respond to questions, and not make it sound like a wire in her bra is pinching her. At least Spicer attempted some humor.
This blog has been critical of the way Spicer conducted his job. Journalists across the nation would agree. I have also opined that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus is close to the exit door. Given the bond that Priebus and Spicer shared over the past six months one has to wonder how soon it might be before I will be writing the exit post for the former Wisconsin Republican.
There will be no tears–as I stated from the start Priebus was not the type required to be the most important person in the White House. Effective presidents are only allowed that luxury with a a most competent chief-of-staff.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 