I don’t begrudge Linda Douglass of National Journal her new job as “senior strategist and as a senior campaign spokesperson” with the Obama campaign. But an opportunity and an offer like this don’t happen overnight. And so it’s pretty likely that Douglas has been in at least casual talks with Team Obama about this for a while she was working for National Journal, covering the campaign. Even though I’m a skeptic on the concept of perfect objectivity in journalists — everybody has opinions about the people they cover — it strikes me as pretty tough for journalists to cover someone who they just had a job interview with, and who may hire them in the near future.

Douglas hosts a radio show on XM radio’s all-politics channel, POTUS ‘08, on Fridays — er, I presume those duties will he handed to someone else. Her April 25 interview with Obama campaign manager David Plouffe seems sufficiently tough, but one has to wonder – had either side begun thinking about working together by then? Did the talks begin or pick up new steam as a result of that interview? (She says the offer came late last week.)

It doesn’t help when she says upon being hired, “I’ve seen something I believe in,” and “I saw that this could be a history-making presidency.”

Because these sorts of hiring processes are done in secret for obvious reasons, we don’t know if this is the only member of the media who interviewed for a position with Obama, and whether anyone else is interviewing with his campaign, or other campaigns. (Thinking out loud — could Team Hillary afford any new staff additions at this point?)

Next time a critic complains, “those reporters are writing like they want a job with the candidate”… it may not be hyperbole.