I’ve seen some people comparing new White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to Bush’s former spokesman Scott McClellan.
I don’t think the comparison is apt, at least not yet. McClellan was always deer-in-headlights and stammering; Gibbs is getting snarky and snippy, and better at deflecting legitimate questions with sarcasm.
Gibbs said Obama had not explicitly enumerated any new ethics standards for his staff, despite two recent departures of nominees.
“The president doesn’t need to write his staff a memo,” Gibbs said. “We understand.”
Asked how the staff can understand something Obama has not made explicit, Gibbs replied, presumably tongue-in-cheek: “clairvoyance.”
I love that “presumably.” The President’s powers are apparently unearthly.