Gibbs unleashed for attacking role

President Obama took a big step in preparing his 2012 reelection campaign Wednesday by announcing his press secretary and senior adviser, Robert Gibbs, would leave the White House.

By releasing Gibbs from the niceties required at the briefing-room podium, Obama has unleashed his most efficient attack dog on would-be critics from both the right and the left as he gears up for a reelection bid next year.

{mosads}The move is part of what the White House has labeled a “major retooling” of senior administration staff, and, for Gibbs, it comes after nearly seven years of grueling work for Obama that included a historically competitive presidential campaign and the two years in office battling both sides of the political divide. 

But officials acknowledge the change also fills a need for Obama to have a voice on the cable talk shows who is loyal to the president and has Gibbs’s credibility, stature and thirst for battle.

One official acknowledged that the White House views Gibbs’s role moving forward as one similar to that played by James Carville, the senior adviser to former President Clinton who became a mainstay on cable TV as a tireless and, at times, brutal defender of Democrats.

Colleagues of Gibbs have long acknowledged the press secretary’s passion for political pugilism. In his first interview with The Hill after Obama took office, Gibbs paraphrased Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, foreshadowing a bruising two-year tenure.

John Del Cecato, an adviser to the Obama campaign and a columnist for The Hill, once described Gibbs on the attack, noting that the Alabama native’s “eyes light up” when he is preparing to hammer an opponent.

“He really enjoys it and slows it down, almost dares you to cut him off before the knife is fully twisted,” Del Cecato said shortly after Obama came into office. 

After the midterm “shellacking” taken by Democrats, Obama pledged to work harder to engender a bipartisan tone with the new Republican Congress. Because Gibbs is much better suited to throwing punches than playing nice, it’s another reason he could be a better asset for Obama outside the White House.

As a free agent, Gibbs can take off the gloves in battling the new Republican House and GOP presidential contenders while the company line at the White House remains about working together. 

And despite the gripes of many about the liberal media, the White House believes Obama has few allies in the echo chamber of the 24/7 television news cycle. With Gibbs, it believes it will have a high-profile and loyal one.

Anita Dunn, Obama’s former communications director, has filled that role to an extent, but Dunn has many overlapping business interests and her loyalties are divided between Obama and the liberal wing of the party that has repeatedly expressed disappointment with the president.

Famously derided by Gibbs as “the professional left” in an interview with The Hill last summer, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party has created a media environment where Obama constantly takes hits from both sides of many political battles.

Gibbs, some officials and Democrats believe, can now stand up as Obama’s most tireless, fearless and unwavering supporter on the airwaves.

Many Democratic strategists agree pure defenders of Obama are rarely found on the airwaves, though they argue Gibbs is partly to blame for that vacuum. The press secretary is one of a handful of close advisers to the president who have worked for years with Obama and have not always invited help from outside. 

“The Obama White House has been slow to develop relationships with outside surrogates, and they will have some repair work to do,” said one Democratic strategist. “Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to have someone of Robert’s talent and knowledge who can fight the good fight from the outside without being accountable to the day-to-day politics of Washington.”

Other personnel moves at the White House might address the insularity of Obama’s team. William Daley, a former Commerce Department secretary under President Clinton who is not seen as an Obama insider, is expected to join the White House as chief of staff.

During a packed White House briefing on Wednesday, Gibbs insisted he was not leaving the White House so that he could say things that he can’t now say from the podium.

“I’m not going in order to be freed up to say a series of things that I might not otherwise say,” he said. 

But outside strategists said Gibbs will be free to speak more openly for Obama outside the White House even as he continues to provide him with advice. 

“Robert will be an excellent outside spinner for the president because he has close relationships with White House insiders and intimately understands the president’s strategy,” said another political strategist. “That will be an invaluable aid to him in defending the president from all comers.”