Patrick W. Gavin: Learning to meet the press

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - White House Press Secretary Tony Snow may have been the only person in the Bush administration relieved to learn that political pressures on the issue of immigration forced President Bush to deliver a major address on the subject Monday night. The primetime speech allowed Snow, who was appointed in late April by Bush to replace Scott McClellan as “The First Flak,” to push back his first televised White House press briefing from Monday to Tuesday, thereby buying him one more day to prepare his public debut in what has to be one of the toughest jobs in politics.

If Snow’s first off-camera briefing (commonly referred to as a “press gaggle”) on Friday was any indication, he truly would stand to benefit from the extra 24 hours. To put it simply, Snow tanked … and tanked in a job where first impressions with the finicky White House press corps mean a lot. When briefing reporters for the first time, he flip-flopped on the starting time, switched the location to a less accommodating venue (admitting “this is just a mess”) and fell back on talking points because, well, “as the new kid on the block, I’m not fully briefed into everything.” White House reporters may have respected Snow’s humility, but, at the end of the day, they still demand answers.

Snow’s background coming into the job led many to believe he’d be a natural. A former commentator for Fox News and a radio talk show host, he was friendly on the eyes, soft on the ears, comfortable in the spotlight and quick on his feet. But many wondered whether that was enough to deftly handle the feisty White House press corps. Although Snow had previously served in the White House as George H.W. Bush’s speechwriting director, he wasn’t a wonk and, as the Friday gaggle proved, it was unclear whether he had as complete an understanding of the various issues necessary to brief reporters.

It was this dose of uncertainty about Snow’s qualifications for the position that caused nearly every reporter in the room to watch him closely when he entered the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room yesterday and the cameras went live for his first televised press briefing.

If the first thing that struck you when he stepped to the podium wasn’t the mug of coffee he proudly rested on top of his lectern or how his blue eyes almost perfectly matched the backdrop behind him or how he was wearing much more make up than Scott McClellan ever did, then you may have instead noticed that he looked like a deer in the headlights for the first few seconds. Though he broke the ice with a cordial, “I feel so loved,” that sentiment may have been lost on the press corps, very few of whom bothered to say a simple “Welcome.”

Fine by him, it seemed, as he chose not to warm up the packed room by chumming it up with his former colleagues. With scant a smile, he reeled off two quick items about his boss’ visit with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and an update on the administration’s plans for immigration reform and then quickly opened it up to questions.

As Snow played the ageless game of give-and-take with the Fourth Estate for almost 45 minutes, it became instantly clear that the Tony Snow we were watching behind the lectern very much resembled the Tony Snow we had heard behind the microphone during his radio talk show days: poised, loose and casual. These weren’t talking points; this was a talk show. Where Snow’s predecessor, Scott McClellan, proved bland and robotic, Snow waxed articulate, persuasive and personal, employing the words “I” and me 114 times. He felt at ease turning the tables on reporters (“Are you suggesting that we have too much prosperity?”) and he walked the press through the issues as he saw them (“Let me remind you: This is a war on terror.”).

But Snow wasn’t without the first day-jitters, flip-flopping on several occasions about whether political speculation was appropriate. Snow told NBC’s David Gregory not to “leap to conclusions, David, about what the House of Representatives is likely to do” but later told another reporter asking about immigration reform that “I guarantee you it’s going to go to conference.” Catching himself on his own double standard, Snow apologized and said, “you’re absolutely right. I overstepped and should not be making predictions about what the Senate will do.”

In the end, however, Snow seemed to win over many in the room with his plain-spoken tone and his willingness to admit mistakes.

“Rather than having me fake it, I’ll get you the exact numbers,” Snow said in response to a question about how many Border Patrol agents would be moved to the U.S.-Mexico border under Bush’s proposal.

When he had difficulty summarizing talks over Iran between the EU3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) and the U.S., Russia and China, Snow quickly checked himself: “Am I getting it wrong?”

And finally, he had to apologize for incorrectly calling cyclist Lance Armstrong “Lance Anderson.”

But Snow’s most humble and personal touch came at the conclusion of the briefing when Tony Snow did the unthinkable: He teared up. When he was asked about his “Live Strong” bracelet — made famous by Armstrong — Snow choked up, paused for several moments and told a moving story about his own struggle with colon cancer and how he had to watch his mother succumb to the same disease when he was only 17.

“It’s going to sound stupid, and I’ll be personal here, but just having gone through this last year … was the best thing that ever happened to me. … I feel every day is a blessing.”

It was clear that this was anything but a normal White House press briefing and Tony Snow was going to be anything but your typical White House press secretary.

After he referred to his yellow “Live Strong” bracelet, it occurred to more than a few reporters that, much in the same way that Armstrong’s defeat of cancer made bicycling over the French Alps nearly a walk in the park, so, too, might Snow’s conquering of colon cancer make him a formidable foe for White House reporters.

Patrick W. Gavin is the Examiner’s associate editorial page editor.

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