Posted on 04/26/2006 6:18:39 PM PDT by RWR8189
TONY SNOW, the former Fox News anchor and talk radio host, has taken one of the toughest jobs in America. As White House press secretary for President Bush, he'll have deal with a press corps that is both out of control and smug in its negative opinion of the both the president and his administration.
What should Snow do? First, recognize the position he's put himself in: It's dire. The press is bent on trashing Bush. And while Snow is a delightful and upbeat person, his charm will get neither him nor Bush anywhere with the media. And second, he's fighting history. Though second term makeovers are worth trying--and Snow is part of one--they never restore a presidency to its first term glory.
That's the situation. Bad as it is, there are things Snow can do to improve the president's standing, at least at the margins. And there are things to be avoided that won't help the president at all and may even make things worse.
I've got five pieces of advice:
(1) Ban TV cameras from the daily White House briefings for the press. These events have turned the press room into a battleground and the press is winning. Reporters grandstand and showboat and hector. They ask questions that won't elicit information, but may make them look tough. The effect is to make the White House look far more embattled than it really is.
This advice may seem counterproductive because Snow is a media star with considerable charisma. He was hired to tout the president on television. He can still do this. He'll be the hot official in the Bush administration for months to come. Every TV news show, foreign and domestic, will want to interview him. His speeches will be covered. As the handsome new face of the administration, he'll be a TV staple.
(2) Be willing to be disliked. The job of press secretary, if done well, is not be liked by the press corps. There's an inverse relationship at work here. We'll know Snow is not helping the president if reporters like him. Should he rebut their assertions effectively and put them in their place--in other words, stand up strongly for Bush and his policies--reporters will grouse. And there's no need for Snow to pay lip service to the notion that as press secretary, he serves two masters, the president and the press. The press secretary serves only the president.
(3) Don't address old columns. Snow must tell the press that he's now the president's man, available only to say what the president is doing and thinking. His old columns and talk show rants are irrelevant. Reporters will plaster him with his past criticisms of Bush and ask him to square them with what he now says as press secretary. That's a fool's game Snow should avoid. What Snow does has to be about Bush, not about him.
(4) Promote the president's policies. It's amazing how few Republicans from Congress or the administration step forward publicly on Bush's behalf. Bush often seems to be without vocal allies and defenders, and heaven knows he needs them. Snow can fill the gap. He's smart and articulate and will have a podium wherever he goes, in or out of Washington. And he may have more credibility than a professional flack.
(5) Don't fall for the old advice that the key to recovery is giving the press more access to president--then they'll learn to like him and cover him more favorably. Hogwash. Every president in trouble has tried this and it's never worked. So don't waste the president's time.
In the end, Snow may turn out to be exactly what the president needs. A new press secretary can't rejuvenate a struggling presidency. But he sure can help.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard and author of Rebel-in-Chief (Crown Forum).
6) convince GWB to close the border and step up enforcement to get rid of illegal aliens in the country.
Tont Snow!! The Liberal Media Whisperer! They can be trained and Tony can do it.
Oops; Tont = Tony
Tony needs to comvince Bush to go quick on border control and slow on amnesty. Also needs to convince Bush that hydrogen will not help in the next three years and quit talking it up above shorter term crutches. Snow also needs to convince Bush that spending has got to drop.
Tony needs to remember that it was "Tony Snow" who was hired, not any of the people offering him advise.
(6) Don't listen to Fred Barns
I suppose there was a reason.
/johnny
tony needs to beat the press over the head, every darned day, with what is good and positive about the Bush administration, and call the press on the carpet when it's being not serious, or when espousing erroneous info by labelling it so and countering it with true info. his job is to get the word out.
Pretty SAGE advice Paladin! Me thinks Tony would be better served listening to YOU instead of Fred Barnes!
Didn't take long...
Perhaps because GWB doesn't suffer backside kissers lightly.
Barnes' suggestions seem like pretty good advice to me. Especially banning cameras from the daily briefing -- watch the prima-donna's howl.
Anyone associated with Kristol is not in your corner.
I think Tony will have special access to the president and have an opportunity to present his views. As posted on another thread his title is "Assistant to the President AND Press Secretary".
Don't count on it...
Scarborough was already cutting him down just moments ago, citing a "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy" (those were his actual words) between the White House, Fox News, and the Fox President....
They are ALREADY trying to minimilize anything good that might come out of this as merely "Fox Propoganda". Remember, to Liberals, Fox News is a kingpin of the Evil Empire....
(6) Give Helen Thomas a well deserved intellectual smack-down.
Tony is an alumnus of the Greater Cincinnati area. He's seen the Reds at Crosley Field. He might remember the song the organist played when the centerfielder Pinson hit a homerun - "Show Me The Vada Go Home!"
LOL!! Best piece of advice Tony will ever get!
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