WASHINGTON (Map, News) - New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told The Examiner on Thursday that his past criticism of President Bush, whom he once called “an embarrassment,” is “not that big a deal.”

“I knew it was something I’d have to deal with,” said Snow, who was once a speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush. “But ironically, I had to deal with it the first time I went into the White House. I’d also been somewhat critical of the first President Bush.”

Snow told The Examiner in an interview that he was untroubled by criticism from Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who blasted Snow’s appointment as the president’s new spokesman.

“Howard Dean was the one public figure who came out hard,” said Snow, who until this week hosted TV and radio shows on Fox News. “But Howard doesn’t know me.”

The DNC said Snow is a “perfect fit” for Bush because the administration “has a problem telling the truth.” But Snow said Bush welcomes dissent from his staff.

“One of the misperceptions is that he’s not someone who wants to hear different views around the table,” Snow said. “He has had no problem with it. And frankly, if he has no problem with it, I don’t care if Howard Dean has a problem with it or not.”

Snow said he hopes his upbeat outlook helps restore some civility to the political debate.

“It’s all about tone,” he said. “A lot of the people who are caught in the middle of this fight are sick of it.”

The negative tone has resulted in low job approval ratings for politicians in both parties.

“When you have a president in the 30s and Congress in the 20s, that’s bad,” Snow said. “And I think one way you restore it is by behaving, by acting in a genial way.”

Snow decried the “vicious, personal and sometimes unfocused warfare between Democrats and Republicans, or the press corps and the political class.”

“People at home are saying to themselves: ‘This isn’t what I remember when I was looking at the civics book,’ ” he said. “People still have a more exalted view of what government ought to be.”

Snow said he will try to uphold that view.

“I’ve had people blast me because I’m too squishy, I’m too nice, all that sort of stuff,” he said. “Well, yeah, OK, I’ll take that. I think it’s time” for more congeniality.

“And you’ve seen the president take a lot of blows on the chin because he doesn’t want to ball up his fist and knock people’s teeth out,” he added. “There’s an opportunity to make people — even people who disagree with us — feel really good about the whole thing.”

Snow said he is particularly excited about taking the job in today’s media environment.

“My view of the press right now is that we’re living in the Wild West, and it’s pretty exciting,” he said. “Because the old sheriff used to be ABC, NBC, CBS. Now you’ve got networks, you’ve got cable, you’ve got talk radio, you’ve got the blogosphere.

“The blogosphere has never quite gotten its due, and sooner or later it will,” he said. “But you’ve got pouring information in from everywhere. So you grab your surfboard and get on top of the wave rather than underneath it.”

bsammon@dcexaminer.com