By: Matt Lewis
Posted 04/20/06
10:53 AM

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In my opinion, The Washington Post is being a bit hard on Scott McClellan, today:

...Howard Kurtz writes: "He was painful to watch at times, gamely repeating the same stock phrases under a barrage of hostile media fire, grasping for new ways to deliver the same non-answers." (By the way, the last time I checked, that's called "staying on message.")

...Dana Milbank writes: "Bush bestowed the dreaded 'heckuva job' laurel on McClellan ('job well done' was today's version) and said: 'I don't know whether or not the press corps realizes this, but his is a challenging assignment dealing with you all on a regular basis."

Others have been more kind to Scott, but are attributing the shake-up to Bush's dilemma:

...Dan Balz opines, "... yesterday's senior staff changes represent a frank acknowledgment of the trouble in which President Bush now finds himself. "

My take hasn't changed. McClellan had a tough job. Was he perfect? No. But it's a tough gig ...

Mr. Lewis has managed political campaigns and served as director of grassroots for the Leadership Institute, as well as political director for GOPAC. In 2002, Campaigns & Elections magazine selected him as a "Rising Star of Politics." He is the author of "Teaching Elephants to Talk." His blog can be read at MattLewis.org. Disclaimer.

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