Meet The Press Secretary

Meet The Press Secretary

Recently one of President G. W. Bush's former press secretaries, Scott McClellan, wrote a tell-all book about the White House. There is no really new information in the book but it is confirmation from an insider of the wrong-doing by this Administration. Impeachment of this President would certainly be justified, although it would not necessarily be best for our country. What strikes me most about this situation is how naive the Press is acting when they question McClellan. "If you had these negative feelings about the President and the Administration, why didn't you speak out while you were there or resign?"

The job of the Press Secretary is to disseminate information from the President to the Press. As unbiased as he is supposed to be, he is a member of the Administration. He will always slant his statements to favor the President. That's his job. The President may avoid telling him all the facts in any case so he can stand before the Press and not lie. But the Press Secretary may know more from just walking down the halls than what he is spoon-fed by the President. Does it really surprise anybody that he would be a loyal servant of the President and keep quiet?

In any relationship, people restrain or compromise their views and values to maintain that relationship. We call it Loyalty. Honesty may suffer. But when a relationship ends, there may be a change in one's attitude about loyalty to the other one. If the relationship ends negatively, a disgruntled and bitter partner may strike out. But even if the end was positive, one might reflect on the relationship and regret the restraint and the compromises one made. One might feel the need to express one's uncompromised beliefs that were repressed. I think this is what happened with Mr. McClellan. He just had to say it. He ate something bad and had to purge it. For him, loyalty to the President would mean protecting lies that have cost the lives of American Soldiers, attacked the integrity of opposing public officials, and damaged his own credibility. Honesty won the day.

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