What's he doing, they queried. He's stealing her light! There was a tweetstorm of monumental proportions.
The "he" in this case was the secretary of state's husband and the former president who was off on a mission to rescue two journalists captured and imprisoned in North Korea.
They were employed by his former vice president, and the former POTUS went at his behest with the approval of the new president and his secretary of state, about to be bound to Africa. She knew all about it, of course. For the sake of convenience and perhaps to some degree for the sake of last minute preps and briefings, they had left their Georgetown residence together and arrived at Andrews for their separate missions. It was well-coordinated as such events go.
The DOS press corps, however did not see it that way that particular morning. They circled their wagons around the secretary of state, whose coverage was their job, and expressed their disgruntlement on Twitter where I was following several of the younger members of the corps.
Their loyalty to and protectiveness of Hillary was plain to see. No one should be stealing her steam, not even her husband, a two-term former POTUS. This was her big trip. They were there to make it visible to the world.
Apparently the current SOS, Rex Tillerson, missed class that day and in the days following Hillary Clinton's flu and subsequent fainting spell and concussion, or even her bouts with spring allergies, or he would know the fealty and concern with which the DOS press corps treats coverage of the secretary of state.
Instead of giving them a fair chance to get to know him, bond, and explain and defend him in the press, he has opted to treat them as the enemy and barred them from the plane on his first official excursion to Asia. N.B. Asia was also Hillary's first official trip as SOS.
This decision is not only folly but also speaks to the general attitude of this administration toward the press. Without giving them the chance to get to know him and perhaps develop a sympathy toward him and his work, he has chosen to banish them as inimical - the general stance of the administration - and a dangerous and foolhardy one.
The State Department press corps tends to be very open, supportive, and defensive of the secretary of state. Tillerson, on his first official journey, has chosen to erect a wall, another symbol of this new administration, between him and those whose function is to cover his tenure.
He has decided to pare down. He will not be using the Big Blue Bird - so familiar via Condi, Hillary, and John Kerry. He will use a smaller plane. N.B. that this does not necessarily represent any reduction of expenses since the news bureaus pay for the press transportation. It represents, instead, a slap in the face to the free press.
The Trump administration and Tillerson as part of it have chosen to treat the press as the enemy. They could have caught more flies with honey, but never mind. As Roseanne Rosannadanna might have said, Mr. Tillerson, you sound like a real attractive guy. Truth is, when you have a name that sounds like it came out of an "Archie" comic book, you really needed all the help you could have gotten, and beggars cannot be choosers.
