The Chicago Tea Party...Becomes A Washington Coffee Chat?

Here is White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, fielding a question about Rick Santelli's rant.



Translation: "Santelli got to us. He made us mad. He got under our skin. We don't like him. Does someone have a tissue?"

I wonder why the White House bothers with this stuff. So a reporter mocked you. So what? Move on. Nothing can be gained by scrapping with someone that isn't running for anything.

Three weeks ago, Obama made a point of singling out Rush Limbaugh. All it did was increase Limbaugh's stature in the eyes of the Right. For Limbaugh, it was great publicity. He's still on the air, feeling pretty cocky that the President of the United States took time to point him out. For the White House, it was a stupid move. No political gain was made from it. After a week or so it died down to nothing. Why? Newsflash: Limbaugh isn't going anywhere. He can't be defeated in an election. He's a disk jockey.

Today, Gibbs said that Santelli was more or less a doofus that hadn't read the spending bill and added, "I’d be more than happy to have [Santelli] come here to read it. I’d be happy to buy him a cup of coffee — decaf."

Who trained this guy? Now he's turned the ravings of a cable news reporter into an actual issue.

Picking a fight with a reporter has absolutely no upside. It only makes people go to the reporter's webpage to see who he is and what he's saying. Gibbs has opened the door to Santelli using his CNBC microphone to mock him and the president at every turn, rightly thinking that picking a fight with a willing White House makes for great exposure.

Gibbs has been pretty unimpressive so far. Obama should take a long look at him and let him go at the earliest convenience.