‘No drama Obama’? Then how about C-H-A-O-S?!
(The die is cast: Obama nominates Hillary…, The iPINIONS Journal, December 1, 2008)
I wrote the above to counter the prevailing view that Barack Obama was so cool that his term in the White House would be free of the petty drama that characterized the terms of all previous occupants. And, sure enough, that he was forced on Monday to appoint his fourth chief of staff in less than three years is an indication of just how much drama (if not chaos) is unfolding.
The point is that books on the backbiting and infighting among White House staffers are about as revealing and predictable as a long-running TV soap opera. Which is why the only thing that is noteworthy about the latest by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, The Obamas, is a scene that reads more like one from The Jersey Shore than the White House.
It took place between two of Obama’s most trusted advisers, press secretary Robert Gibbs and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Here is how POLITICO reported on it on Monday:
[Kanto] describes Gibbs as becoming incensed after Jarrett said the first lady was unhappy with his efforts to deny a report that she had characterized living in the White House as ‘hell.’
‘Fuck this, that’s not right. I’ve been killing myself on this. Where’s this coming from?’ Gibbs shouted at Jarrett, who stayed calm. Jarrett didn’t ‘know what the fuck you’re talking about,’ he added. Jarrett responded that the first lady would be upset by how he was speaking. ‘Then fuck her, too!’ he said before storming out of the room….
Of course, anyone who has read any of the popular “insider” books by acclaimed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward knows how animated and profane arguments among White House staffers can be. But what is truly shocking is that any staffer would dare curse any first lady the way Gibbs is quoted doing here.
When I first read about this scene I assumed Kantor was taking creative license. Since then, however, both Gibbs and Jarrett have issued statements confirming the exchange – albeit only by their conspicuous refusal to deny it. Each parroted that animated and profane exchanges are part of the ordinary give and take among White House staffers and cited the fact that they are both top members of President Obama’s re-election team as evidence that it was no big deal to the Obamas.
Which only makes me wonder about the nature of the relationship between the Obamas and Gibbs. Namely, how could this guy show the first lady such appalling disrespect and not only get away with, but remain in their inner circle? And if you believe Michelle’s contention that Jarrett did not immediately tell Barack and her what Gibbs said, you are every bit the fool she takes you for.
I have an abiding unease about white liberals thinking they can get away with all manner of racial insults just because of their legacy of support for black civil rights. Imagine the national outrage, for example, if a white conservative called a black female judge an ape – as liberal lion Sen. Ted Kennedy did. (I duly commented on this in U.S. senator calls Bush’s black female judge an ape.) More to the point, I am willing to wager that this is the first time any staffer has ever spoken so disrespectfully in the White House about any first lady. And this first lady just happens to be black….
Hell, I wouldn’t even forgive my best friend if he disrespected my wife in this fashion. Therefore, it is incomprehensible to me that Barack would retain Gibbs after he cursed Michelle; after all, Barack could get virtually anyone in America to replace this punk.
Things that make you go, hmmmm, no?
Related commentaries:
The die is cast…
U.S. senator calls black judge an ape