Snow falls on Washington

Say you’re George Bush (I know, you want to vomit and go kill yourself now, but please, try to remember, it’s just hypothetical). Your approval numbers are in the toilet, you grasp onto any potentially spinnable fact of good news like Wile E. Coyote clinging to that last leaf of the branch keeping him from falling splat off the mesa and onto the desert floor. You’re a little late getting to that second-term changing-of-the-guard and while you’ve accepted the resignations of some people who wanted to “step down so they can spend more time with their families,” so far you’ve only kept the people who tell you what you want to hear. You can’t make your agenda believable (or even comprehensible) to the media or the American public to save your life.

Time for a new Press Secretary. Which makes sense. These guys burn out fast. And Scott McClellan? While he’s not as whiny and confrontational as poor Mike McCurry who had to answer questions about blue dresses and the meaning of the word “is,” McClellan could be a little quicker on the draw, could look a little less like he’s on the verge of a panic attack when the White House press corps descend upon him. But why on earth would Bush want to replace him with someone not only more charismatic, articulate and better looking than the president (OK, insert your own joke here. I’ll wait. Dum-de-dum-de-dum….ready now?), but someone who has clearly and very publicly been on record as critical of your decisions?

And why on earth would the guy take this job? Tony Snow has a wife and kids and just beat colon cancer. He’s a regular anchor on Fox News, he’s got a syndicated radio show. Why take the pay cut? Why take on the pressure?

That stuff Colin Powell used to say about “when the president calls, you go,” is a bunch of crap. This isn’t Cuba. This isn’t Hussein’s Iraq.

Snow didn’t have to take the job.

In several interviews, Snow has said that we are in such fascinating political times that the challenge was too exciting to turn down. And (my opinion here) possibly the chance to make news (abandoning the journalistic tenet of never becoming the news) and to even have some advisory power could have a little sway. And the appeal of having a veteran pundit who knows the ins and outs of Washington politics (and who can probably handle the White House press corps without losing his cool) on his front lines was too good for Bush to pass up. (Or I’m sure Karl Rove told him so.)

However the decision played out, the result is going to be interesting.

Already I’m seeing Snow’s influence. His fingerprints were all over that last press conference. Bush, having more fun with the press than usual. Coming down firm on the question about the “new” National Anthem in Spanish (pre-Snow, I am sure he would have equivocated about his respect for the immigrants who made this country great, and maybe he would have even said it in Spanish). Now he just said, “no way.”

Now if only Snow could convince Bush that Rumsfeld and Cheney need to spend more time with their families….