A class act

...moves on:

Quote:

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Today was White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s last day at the White House after 15 months. She set out to restore truth, transparency, and accountability of the administration to the press, and to that end she has held 224 press briefings—together, all of former president Trump’s press secretaries combined held only 205 in his four years in office. Psaki gave her first press conference on January 20, 2021, the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, telling the press, “I have deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy and for the role all of you play,” before answering questions.
Psaki’s tenure has been notable for her ability to parry loaded questions, turning them into opportunities to provide facts and information. Her quick answers to leading questions have been labeled “Psaki bombs,” and they have enabled her to redirect the conversation without engaging in the hostility that former press secretaries sometimes fell into. Her conduct and evident respect for reporters has been an important corrective to the disrespect with which the press has often been treated by lawmakers in the recent past.
When she finished today’s briefing, she thanked members of the press. “You have challenged me, you have pushed me, you have debated me, and at times we have disagreed. That is democracy in action. That is it working.” She continued: “Thank you for what you do. Thank you for making me better. And most importantly, thank you for the work every day you do to make this country stronger.”

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I don't watch much TV but what I saw of her I liked---she certainly took a different tack than trump's combative and often dishonest parade of nothingness.

She was better than Sanders but she could be condescending. Remember when she smirked at a question about COVID test kits, asking her interlocutor "are you suggesting that the government just send everyone a kit" and the next week, Biden announced that very thing?

I understand she was there to promote the company line but often, she went over the line into debate, which wasn't her job, and was smirky about it, like "I am just indulging your stupid question".

But then, I suppose I don't like public servants who forget that they work for us, which happened a lot in my years with the federal goober mint, so I suppose I am hypersensitive to anything close to that. She did it FAR FAR less than the last administration.

I didn't like her at all. I felt she held herself better than the press and even us commoners. Aloof comes to mind.

I have to admit she did a pretty good job of covering for her incompetent boss with a combination of avoidance, deception and silence. Her best attribute and the one I admired the most is that she is a consummate smartass. Excuse me now I have to "circle back".

Maybe I was influenced by a lack of observation points----or maybe the red hair :flip:

Added in edit: In thinking about this more I have to admit that if that were me fielding many of the rather stupid comments (often statements masquerading as a question), I might find it difficult to remain humble and gracious as well :fight::peace:

I'll try to avoid sounding pompous, but:

Public service is a tremendous privilege. Great trust is being given to anyone even in a really minor functionary job. We see personal information that not even spouses are aware of. We handle great sums of money that the public entrusts us with. We take the same oath that soldiers take (except the part about following a lawful order, I think...). The very least we owe in return is courtesy.

I nominated one of my classmates for a distinguished alum honor because he spent his life in service to his country, first in the military and then with a scientific foundation. I wanted young people at our high school to see that while other avenues are more lucrative, being of service to your country is a very rewarding life in other ways. I mentioned this at the Induction Ceremony for his award and he said "Yep. No regrets. You?" "Nope". Very few careers have that sort of high degree of satisfaction. So for me, it is extremely important that other public servants remember who they work for and not become jokes like the DMV or something.

Sorry. Rant ended.

After watching the first day of the new presidential spokesperson I'll take the old one back.

Both Psaki and Sanders were tasked by their boss to conduct press conferences in a style and with a “spin” that pleased their bosses.. and both did just that and both were better at it than I could be..

Haven’t seen the new one..

Hopefully she'll do better after all it was her first day.