We all have certain words and phrases we use frequently, but White House Press Secretary Tony Snow has one that stands out for me. Consider this exchange from yesterday’s briefing.
Q: Why did he decide to give enemy body counts? That’s something that they’ve generally tried to stay away from.
SNOW: Well, that’s a good question. I won’t try to — rather than trying to tell you why the President said what he said — because I can’t give you the exact — I can’t put him on the couch right now — what I can do is at least offer one possible reason why that’s an important data point for Americans, which is there’s a lot of concern about U.S. casualties and deaths, as there should be — 103 deaths in October alone. (emphasis added)
Let’s put aside the substantive issue about of war body counts for a moment and take a look at that phrase, “I can’t put him on the couch right now.” Snow uses it quite a bit, and I think I understand what he means, but it’s become an easy and overly used cop-out. Questions about the president’s decisions and perspective are easily batted away — if Snow doesn’t like the subject — by suggesting that answering the question would require some kind of psychoanalysis.
On yesterday’s question, for example, it’s a fairly important substantive point. The president had previously announced that the White House had “made a conscious effort not to be a body-count team.” This week, the Bush gang reversed course and said they would begin publicizing body counts to disabuse people of the notion that “our people aren’t doing anything” in Iraq.
Reporters understandably wondered what prompted the change. The answer, Snow said, would lead him to put Bush “on the couch.” What obvious nonsense.
Snow keeps pulling this stunt. A month ago, en route to Ho Chi Minh City, Snow held a quick press gaggle about Air Force One. Noting that the president said he’s “fascinated” by Vietnam, a reporter asked what the president was referring to with the comment. Snow said:
“No, I mean, take a look at the history of this country — again, I don’t want to — I, frankly, didn’t get him on the couch for this one, so I don’t have his inner feelings about it.”
A week earlier, two days after the Republicans got a “thumping” from voters, a reporter asked about how the president is reacting to his party’s defeats in Congress. Snow responded:
“The President is not a guy who’s — I’m afraid he doesn’t get on the couch, Jim.”
Does Snow realize what the phrase actually means? Getting a sense of the president’s perspective — on a country, a policy, an event — does not require that the press secretary probe Bush’s inner-most thoughts and feelings. Asking why Bush feels the need to show up his father — that would be putting Bush on the couch. Asking why Bush reversed course on war body counts is just a basic policy question.
Snow could just dodge these fairly straightforward questions — he has plenty of practice — but he seems to believe it’s best to deride the questions themselves by suggesting the reporters are asking for far too much personal information.
Why does Snow keep doing this? Maybe he needs a little time “on the couch.”