"Black Communications Officials:" White Men Have Failed to Position Karine Jean-Pierre For Success

This is a poisonous mindset and it's becoming too noxious to continue ignoring.

It's been a rocky first month for White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE.

Her answers have baffled reporters, and even made some of her White House colleagues wince. She has increasingly found herself sharing the podium or splitting briefings with JOHN KIRBY, who has been taking the lead on foreign policy and at times appears to function as a co-press secretary.

And Republicans have zeroed in on her as a useful punching bag.

Later he'll note that the White House Press Corps -- which contains, what, a single Republican? -- is giving her a failing grade.

But Republicans pounce, huh?

Jean-Pierre officially took the podium in May, becoming the first Black and openly LGBTQ woman to hold a position long dominated by white men and women.

Oh so that's why she's failing.

The article notes that she took the job under Biden, which means she's had a tough set of facts to spin.

Against such a difficult backdrop, her stumbles in several instances have made her appear underprepared -- in moments quickly weaponized by the right.

Again: Conservatives seize.

She was unaware that Interior Secretary DEB HAALAND had tested positive for Covid and didn't know Biden had been with Haaland two days before at a Memorial Day event. "Oh, were they?" she said, to which the reporter pointedly noted pictures of the pair.

And when asked that day about the president telling Naval Academy graduates that he had been appointed to the academy in 1965 -- a claim met with skepticism -- Jean Pierre said: "I didn't hear that part of the speech."

Reporters were confused by her refusal to answer questions at a recent briefing about the last time the president had been tested for Covid-19, something her predecessor regularly disclosed. (He tested negative, senior officials later told NBC News.)

Press secretaries can't possibly keep tabs on every story line so it's not unusual for them to acknowledge when they don't know the answer and pledge to find more information after the briefing.

But that has been a more common response for Jean-Pierre in her first weeks than her predecessor. In her first 10 briefings as press secretary, Jean-Pierre said she didn't have the information being sought 20-plus times more than predecessor JEN PSAKI in her first 10 briefings, according to a review of the transcripts by West Wing Playbook.

And while White House reporters love to complain about non-answers from communications officials, many have privately grumbled that when Jean-Pierre does have answers, they are often vague and rarely stray from the pre-written talking points prepared in the binder at the podium.

"At a certain point it wouldn't surprise me if people started voting with their feet," one White House reporter told POLITICO, predicting the lack of news from the briefings could result in waning attendance of reporters.

"She is so focused on not making a mistake that she doesn't let herself speak freely," another reporter said. "A lot of her responses end up becoming... it appears that she's reading from a page."

It appears that she's reading from a page because she's literally reading from a page. You can see her opening up her briefing book, turning the pages, and reading from it.

More often, she doesn't read from it -- she just prays that the answer she's looking for can be found there, and then changes the subject when she can't find anything helpful on her cheat-sheets.

So, here are leftwing reporters crushing her for her incomptence.

But it's all framed as Republicans Weaponize.

Through the White House, Jean-Pierre declined a request to be interviewed. But numerous current and former White House comms staffers and outside allies told West Wing Playbook Jean-Pierre deserves praise for her first month on the job.

They described her as quick and decisive behind the scenes, crafting the White House responses to national tragedies such as the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Several noted her political experience will be a boon to the administration as midterms draw closer. And another official said that Jean-Pierre has given the administration someone who could speak authoritatively about issues affecting Black women, which was particularly helpful following the reversal of Roe.

...

A Democratic congressional source told West Wing Playbook that the press secretary regularly solicits advice and counsel from Democrats across Washington, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

"She brings to the Brady Briefing Room a unique perspective that is important in helping to shape and tell the story of this President and his administration," said the CBC chairwoman, Rep. JOYCE BEATTY, (D-Ohio), in a statement.

So put all of her incompetence to the side -- what she brings to the table is that she's Black, Female, and Gay.

Yes we know. And how many times are we going to be told that being a minority is an acceptable substitute for competence?

Will this be forever, by any chance?

Some White House officials dismissed the idea that Jean-Pierre leans too much on the briefing books, or fears going off script.

"They would grumble regardless of who is at the podium and find ways of critiquing those individuals," one senior White House official said of reporters' complaints. Another official said of Jean-Pierre's deferral of questions: "Singling her out like this is nonsensical. The alternative is the Trump model of outright lying and making things up on the spot -- is that honestly critics' preference?" The senior official declined to put their name on the statement.

It's a good thing the Biden Administration doesn't make things up on the spot.

Say, did you know that the inflation rate is higher in every major western country than in America? I'm not kidding; I'm serious! That's a fact, Jack!

And here we go with the excuse offered so many times, and so embarrassingly, for Kamala Harris: That white men failed to set Karine Jean-Pierre up for success.

Apparently she's not expected to set herself up for success. But neither is Kamala.

Some Black communications officials in and outside the administration, along with allies of Jean-Pierre, feel White House leadership has set her up to fail by having Kirby, a white man who was in the running for her job, hovering nearby and taking the lead on foreign policy.

Why would the presence of a white man cause her to fail?

She's failing at doing the part of her job she's handling solo. Is the claim being made that if she were doing the entire job, including foreign policy, she could somehow spread her limited knowledge and prepwork still thinner and yet somehow manage do the job better?

"White men" are convenient scapegoats, aren't they?

It's nice to always have racial scapegoats, isn't it?

That's something that racists always have in the wings, isn't it?

Jean-Pierre's job has also been made more difficult because the White House has yet to name a principal deputy press secretary, the job she previously held.

So now she does need someone to help lighten her load -- just not a (spit) White Man.

Don't Karine Jean-Pierre and Kamala Harris, and their respective PR people, feel embarrassed that they are offering the excuses that they are failing only because white men didn't do their job and "position" them for success?

Isn't it more demeaning to offer this excuse for failure -- "White men failed to prop me up sufficiently and do my homework for me" -- than to simply fail on your own merits, under your own steam?

You know: Most men who succeed do so by positioning themselves for success. They don't have other men clear an easy path for them.

Is that what these Stronk Empowered Feminists, and, frankly, Diversity Hires are expecting and demanding? For White Men to just do most of their difficult prepwork for them so they can gracefully finish the last lap and take credit?

Seems so.

Actually white men compete hard with each other and a fair few white men engage in underhanded tactics to win this competition, sabotaging their white male competitors. No one's "doing each other's homework."

This conception of a world in which White Men are all secretly doing each other's homework for each other reminds me of the comedy sketch "White Like Me," in which Eddie Murphy, infiltrating white society in whiteface, realizes, "When black people aren't around, white people... do things for each other."

That was a joke, guys. That wasn't real.

They failed to position her for success? DURING PRIDE MONTH????
Posted by: bluebell

For years, we were told that lower-class white racists were backwards and blame-shifting to claim that blacks were the reason for their failure to thrive.

Okay, fair enough.

But now, apparently, we're now to believe that whites are the only reason that blacks fail to thrive, but this isn't a backwards position pushed by black racists, but just Common Sense and Restorative Justice or some bullshit.

Because John Kirby is "hovering."

White Men are now accused of "hovering" blacks into failure.

Meanwhile, I don't know which White Men are responsible for Positioning Kamala Harris for Success, but they had better step up their game, because this is getting so embarrassing for the United States that it puts or national security in peril:

posted by Ace at 05:19 PM

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