Style over substance

One marvels at the sheer superficiality of Mr. Leeks.    In this latest screed, he suggests that Obama's press secretary is a poor choice, since he does things like act human and try to tell the truth even when it hurts.   Compared to the previous guys and gals that had all the smoothness and sincerity of the guy in the plaid jacket at Phil's Yard of Used Cars.  You may recall a few less than noble moments during the Bush years:

(1) Ari Fleischer.  A master of obfuscation.  When asked "does Israel have nuclear weapons?" he replied "I don't personally know that."   He's such an enigma that various observers can't figure out-- is he a total dummy, or an accomplished actor, or a sociopath, or what.  For more on Ari, thse folks have a good profile: .  See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/692890/posts.

 Folks may differ, but I think most would rather have the little rough around the edges than someone with Ari's attributes.

(2) Scott McClellan.   This guy came out and admitted in print that the Bush administration directed him to lie about the Plame affair.    And worse, Scott was hardly ever characterized as doing a slick job of it.  So, no morals and not even good at being bad.

(3) Dana Perino.  Women always have to work harder than men.  Same in this job too-- Dana was an accomplished liar, and she didn't even blush when uttering the most ridiculous fabrications.  She bald-faced lied to HElen Thomas about torture.  Too many other examples to mention.  "Ari lies" gets only 35,000 hits, but "Perino lies" tops 53,000.   A dubious accomplishment.

So while Robert Gibbs may not be as smooth as his predecessors, one suspects the majority of Americans would rather have a person that is identifiably human and moral, rather than the preceding gang of accomplished prevaricators and apparent sociopaths.