Writer Jason Horowitz, noting the press room podium "matters a lot less than it used to," highlights Gibbs' dual roles as both Obama's PR head and trusted advisor and suggests the Alabaman could be in-line to replace David Axelrod when he steps aside to focus on the 2012 re-elect.Ex-communications director Anita Dunn notes of Gibbs: "He is one of the very few people who can sit in on anything he wants to sit in on."
Writes Horowitz:
Gibbs is too discreet to say which job he prefers, but it's not hard to figure out. Listen to the press secretary talk about the media as a predictable, hyperventilating rabble obsessed with access and covering "everything as make or break," or observe his frustration percolating in the briefing room. Then ask him whether he has improved as a big-picture strategist, and the administration's leading purveyor of evasive, circuitous sentences suddenly speaks to the point.
The increasing use of social media tools to get out a message (at the expense of the W.H. press corps) has contributed to a tangible distaste for Gibbs among reporters on his beat. Perhaps they won't have to lodge anonymous complaints much longer if Gibbs' podium will be that launch pad.
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