Rove's Loss

Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey write for Newsweek: "Scott McClellan's departure from the White House marks the end of an era -- for Scott McClellan, that is. In terms of President Bush's troubled communications effort, McClellan's move means little unless there are other changes higher up the White House chain of command. . . .

"By downgrading the job of press secretary, Team Bush thought the worst that could happen was they would annoy the press corps. Well reporters were indeed annoyed, and the Bushies thought the media's frustration confirmed their good judgment.

"But there was another, unexpected effect. The podium is still a highly valuable channel for making news, shaping news analysis and reaching regular voters. By downgrading the press secretary, the White House sent the signal that it was unresponsive to the outside world and uninspired about its message. In good times, when the voters were happy, such signals got lost in the flow of other news. But in bad times, as they have been for the last year, those signals made a tough political environment even harder to manage. McClellan's bland repetition of his talking points looked less like self-discipline and more like desperation."

John Dickerson writes in Slate of two distinct models for press secretary. "Ari Fleischer infuriated the press corps (and me in particular) with his double talk and the sprig of sanctimony he included in every dish. But Ari was a veteran of years of policy battles on the Hill; he could spar from a posture of strength with the generalists in the White House press corps. McClellan, by contrast, was well-liked during his three years behind the podium but spent much of his time there in a fetal position. He got pounded day after day because the president didn't allow him to do much more than repeat the talking points. He was not just robotic but rock 'em sock 'em robotic."

The McClellan Announcement

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Here is the text of McClellan's announcement and Bush's quick remarks. Here's the video. McClellan got all choked up. Bush patted him on the back.

"The White House is going through a period of transition; change can be helpful, and this is a good time and good position to help bring about change. I am ready to move on," McClellan said.

"I have given it my all, sir, and I've given you my all."

Here's the text of McClellan's gaggle yesterday.

"Well, I started thinking about this over -- more seriously over the last few weeks," he said. "I've been at this for a long time. I didn't need much encouragement to make this decision, even though you all kept tempting me.

McClellan's Greatest Hits

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The Wall Street Journal collects some of McClellan's greatest hits (or rather, misses.)

Jake Tapper has some highs and lows on ABC News as well.

Here's just one of many columns of mine that focused on McClellan.

McClellan in Context

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Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes in his blog: "As indicated in numerous reports, particularly here and here, the Bush administration has sought to treat the mainstream press as just another troublesome special interest group, to reduce its role as a semi-official participant in the nation's governance.

"Jay Rosen, a press watchdog and journalism professor at New York University, wrote last summer: 'I believe the ultimate goal is to enhance executive power and maximize the president's freedom of maneuver -- not only in policy-making and warfare, but on the terrain of fact itself.' And writer Ron Suskind, after interviewing top Bush officials, said in an interview that they clearly want to create 'a culture and public dialogue based on assertion rather than authenticity, on claim rather than fact.'

"That's the key to assessing McClellan. His job was to contest or deny the 'terrain of fact,' the empirical evidence, as traditionally defined. . . .

"In all likelihood, the new Scott won't differ much from the old Scott, not as long as the basic mission remains unchanged."

Editorial Watch

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New York Times editorial : "President Bush wants to show the nation he's shaking things up in his administration, but it is clear that the people who messed everything up will remain in place. . . .

"The sudden exit of Scott McClellan, the press secretary, would be meaningless under normal circumstances. But in the current context, it really does send an important message. The president is like one of those people who pretend to apologize by saying they're sorry if they were misunderstood. He doesn't believe he's done anything wrong. It's our fault for not appreciating him."

San Francisco Chronicle editorial : "Unless President Bush changes the culture of the White House to one that involves more transparency, McClellan's departure will mean absolutely nothing. . . .

"It's also unclear whether the slight alteration in Rove's job description is anything more than a semantic change. He still retains the title of deputy White House chief of staff and senior adviser to the president. It's hard to imagine that he won't continue to shape policy in a White House where almost everything seems to be done with one eye on the next election.

"If his job is to ensure a Republican victory in November, and a Republican successor to Bush in 2008, he should be working at GOP campaign headquarters."

Before You Go

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Tim Grieve writes for Salon that he still has some unanswered questions for McClellan, including this one: "On Sept. 29, 2003 , you said that 'the president knows' that Karl Rove wasn't involved in leaking the identity of Valerie Plame. When you were asked how Bush 'knew,' you said: 'I'm not going to get into conversations that the president has with advisors or staff or anything of that nature; that's not my practice.' We subsequently learned that Rove had leaked Plame's identity to both Robert Novak and Matthew Cooper. What was your basis for saying that the president knew that Rove wasn't involved? Did the president ever ask Rove about his involvement? Did Rove lie to the president about his involvement? Did the president lie to you? Or did you lie to the American public?"

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