Fleischer observed sympathetically in a phone interview that "reporters have come to cover the White House at the peak of their career." But, he added, "the best place to go to get operational information about the war is not from the White House." Enterprising reporters have been invigorated by the challenge of covering a ship of state that almost never leaks, but an air of fatalism hangs over those awaiting spoon-fed scoops.
Tight image management matches the message management. When photographers were allowed out into the Rose Garden to take pictures through a window while the president gave his speech announcing the beginning of the war, The Associated Press had the gall to send a picture that showed the president before he began speaking through the wires, when he made a real, live, spontaneous gesture.
Presidential spokesmen are often imprisoned in an awkward middle earth, caught between serving the chief executive and enabling the public's right to know. Fleischer has no such problem. He works for the president, serving as the emperor's clothes when his boss is particularly exposed.
His boss has no problem with a well-timed bout of lockjaw. On Friday morning, when the president was meeting with members of Congress, reporters wanted to ask the president why he was leaving town at such a critical juncture in the war. They shouted their questions to Bush.
"You're on the wrong beat," Bush replied. "You should have been at the Pentagon."
The president flew to Camp David at 1:30pm, leaving reporters in Fleischer's capable hands.
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