Big story in the Sunday NYT on Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs, who will report to Rahm Emanuel and have walk in privileges at the White House. Politico has excerpts:
Obama insiders tend to shudder at any parallels to George W. Bush, but many reporters and rivals have noted the 'Bush-like' tendencies the Obama campaign demonstrated in its ability to control information. The comparison is generally meant as a compliment (albeit a grudging one) by members of the press and expressed enviously by veterans of other campaigns. [Campaign manager David] Plouffe himself admitted to me that the Obama campaign subscribed to the 'Bush model' of communications discipline. Asked if Obama himself spoke of the 'Bush model,' Plouffe told me he did. 'We talked a lot about the Bush model, which is that there are a few people who really know everything,' Plouffe told me in early December. That helps ensure an airtight bubble of knowledge.Politico has some funnies on How to Sell a Newspaper:
Like the Bush model, the Obama model also clearly allowed for combat with the press, sometimes extending to punishment, which was usually doled out by Gibbs. In the course of the campaign, especially at the end, a smattering of reporters claimed that they were left off the Obama plane in retribution for negative reports they had filed or for the perceived sins of their news outlets (i.e. endorsing John McCain). Campaign officials denied ever taking such actions ¬ usually citing 'space reasons.'
I asked Gibbs if any journalists had been kept off the Obama plane for reasons other than space. 'No,' he said at first, but then added, 'on occasion yes.' It was rare, he added. 'I mean, were there occasions? Sure.'
HOW TO SELL NEWSPAPERS I – The Chicago Sun-Times runs (another) 'FREE! OBAMA COLLECTORS PRINT.'
HOW TO SELL NEWSPAPERS II – The Chicago Tribune has a full-page ad today for N'Digo, 'A Magapaper for the Urbane' published by a Chicago-based scholarship foundation: 'Coming to your Sunday Chicago Tribune (in select zip codes) – 'Barack Obama: Day One Stories of America's 44th President,' A special N'Digo Profiles 48-page Commemorative Issue Dedicated to the nation's 44th president.'
