There is no doubt that Edward Snowden has created a huge public relations crisis for the Obama administration. The government appears to be not only stupid, but utterly impotent.
Here we have this gigantic spying system, and it looks like the Keystone Kops. It cannot locate him. It cannot stop him. It revoked his passport. Nobody cares.
Obama has remained silent on all of this. He is like one of the three monkeys: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. He is surely speaking no evil, and he is surely speaking no good. He is not speaking.
In his place is Jay Carney. Who in the world is Jay Carney? Who are any of the presidential spokesman? Can you name Carney's predecessor? Do you know what that man does today?
For decades, the United States government has been represented in the media by a series of no-name flacks. These people have achieved nothing of significance, at least in most cases. No one outside of the Washington Press corps had heard of them before they got involved with a presidential campaign, or maybe even later. Out of nowhere come these people. They stand in front of reporters, and they speak on behalf of the most powerful person in the world. Then back into nowhere they return, never to be quoted again.
I can think of no other political system in the history of man that has ever transferred this much authority, or seeming authority, to people as obscure, untrained, ineffective, and without real power as a White House spokesman.
The following brief note appears in The Wall Street Journal.
"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "And we think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, then there is a problem."
We are in the midst of what could become a full-blown diplomatic crisis. It could put communist China and Russia on one side, and the United States on the other. Venezuela or Ecuador may also get involved. The United States is publicly demanding that countries do what the countries have no intention of doing.
Who announces the significance of all this? Jay Carney.
Jay Carney speaks for the President of the United States. He stands in front of reporters and pontificates about the meaning of Edward Snowden's escape from the clutches of the world's greatest superpower. The reporters dutifully write down what Carney says. The cameramen turn over their files to editors, and the editors create sound bites for the evening news shows. Carney speaks for the President of the United States. Carney knows what the United States government is doing, thinking, and will do and think.
Really?
If it were not for the fact that he is the White House spokesman, nobody would pay any attention whatsoever to Jay Carney. When he finally leaves the office, nobody will ever again pay any attention to what Jay Carney says. But, for a brief period in his life, he is quoted by the world's media. The world's media presume that he speaks for the President on every issue. Whatever Jay Carney spins, that is what becomes official policy of the president of the United States.
So far, he has been asked 10,000 questions. Guess how many he could not answer.
You should know this by now. Go on. Guess.
The answer, according to Wikipedia, is 2,000.
You should have known that. Hint: What percentage of 10,000 is 2,000?
WHY THIS SYSTEM EXISTS
Every President of the United States is faced with this problem, which is a self-made problem. He is represented by someone who he is in limited contact with, and who may let this or that cat out of the bag. Why do we tolerate such a system?
One reason why a President tolerates it is that he can always explain away whatever the White House spokesman said. This gets him off the hook. This lets you hide behind a wall of personal silence. If he happens to approve of what the White House spokesman has said, he can remain silent. But nobody can be sure what he is thinking.
There is another reason for the office. Correspondents dutifully assemble in the briefing room, and because they do not have anybody worth quoting, they will quote Jay Carney. They fulfill their obligations as correspondents. Their editors are content. Their editors really do not care, because they have to get a newspaper out on time, or get the evening news out on time. Everybody suffers from deadlines. The White House spokesman enables everyone to meet these deadlines.
There is another factor to consider. By gathering reporters into one room, the White House gains a hammer over them. If anyone starts deviating, the White House can cease issuing invitations for this person to attend the spin sessions. So, he minds his P's and Q's.
If these reporters were not being spoon-fed by the White House spokesman, they might be doing investigative journalism. Well, maybe not the specific reporters, but other reporters would be hired by the media to find out what is going on. The news media are more interested in getting a sound bite than in finding out what is going on. By sending a reporter to listen to Jay Carney, the news agency is saving money. It does not have to put full-time reporters in the field. The newspaper still gets out on time. The evening news show is broadcast on time. The 30-second sound bite in the middle of a three-minute TV news report generates an audience, and then the network turns them over to some Madison Avenue advertising agency. That is what the system is intended to do: sell things. The rest is window dressing.
So, the media are in the business of selling advertising. To do this, they have to fill up a certain number pages or minutes with what appears to be news. Jay Carney is as good as any source for the news, and a whole lot cheaper to quote than hiring serious investigative reporters. So, Carney gets quoted as if he were the President, and the President gets to remain silent.
Edward Snowden revealed that we live in a digital police state. The public really does not care. It likes a good show. Jay Carney is part of the show. The implications of what Snowden has revealed are monumental. We have moved formally and legally into a police state. The only thing protecting us is the utter incompetence of the police state to enforce its will on people. Edward Snowden has not only revealed that the police state exists in terms of data collection, he has revealed the utter incompetence of these people to get anything accomplished. He is living proof of their inability.
So, Jay Carney spins the information, and reporters dutifully write it down. Viewers dutifully watch the shows. Readers dutifully read the articles as if what Carney has to say were important. It is all a gigantic scam. It is all a system to generate eyes for advertisers to target. The news system is geared up to sell soap.
The fact remains that the system is idiotic. Any system that would elevate Jay Carney to a position of leadership is not a trustworthy system.
It is a shame his name is not spelled Carny. That would be fitting.
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