Why Is Obama Leaking Now?
By Dylan Matthews - Nov 20th, 2008 at 5:12 pmThe Obama presidential campaign was incredibly, frustratingly closed. There was very little access to the press, and consequently few leaks.
So it’s puzzling to me that the Obama transition operation is now leaking like a sieve. So far, his choices for chief of staff, White House counsel, attorney general, OMB director, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Secretary of State have all leaked to the press before official announcement.
It would be easy to attribute this to the appointees and their associates, and while that explains the Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton leaks, I don’t think it explains all of them. After all, a number of the appointees, like Greg Craig, Eric Holder, and Tom Daschle, are Obama insiders with the message discipline that entails, while others, like Peter Orszag, aren’t exactly press-hungry. Indeed, Holder was on Obama’s VP vetting team, which was very tight-lipped.
So what gives? Is the intention to float these picks before the official announcement? Has Obama’s team gotten tired of the extreme discipline of the campaign? Or is Obama signaling that his administration will be press-friendly after all? I claim no inside knowledge, but it seems like there has to be an explanation for a shift this dramatic.
Post a Comment