As the news accounts of the impending (maybe) meeting between President Obama and potential NASA administrator candidate Charles Bolden mount, it’s interesting to see how different publications report on similar events, namely the White House press conference Friday where press secretary Robert Gibbs indicated that the President would be meeting with Bolden. Or did he? Florida Today thinks so:
President Barack Obama will meet Monday with former astronaut Charles Bolden to discuss filling a crucial vacancy at NASA, the White House announced Friday.
The president “wants to meet with somebody about filling the important role of future NASA administrator,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday.
Asked whether that meeting was with Bolden, Gibbs acknowledged, “He will meet with him Monday, and we’ll see how that goes.”
The Orlando Sentinel, though, doesn’t think so:
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed a Monday meeting between Obama and “somebody” about filling NASA’s top job but did not mention Bolden by name.
“He will meet with them on, on Monday, and … we’ll see how that goes,” Gibbs told a media briefing Friday.
If you read the transcript it would appear that Gibbs did respond to a two word question (“Charles Bolden?”) with an affirmative answer (“He will meet with him on Monday”). The press conference video (skip ahead to the 28:00 mark), though, is perhaps less conclusive: maybe he’s responding to the question (posed by CBS News’ Mark Knoller), and maybe he was completing a train of thought. You can probably find evidence for either depending on your point of view.
Also curious is that none of the other reports have cited the Space News report Friday where Bolden said “there is no truth in the rumors” about an impending nomination or even a meeting with White House officials about the position. Florida Today, for example, was unable to reach Bolden, and the Orlando Sentinel got in touch with Bolden Thursday, who said he was “under an embargo” and could not comment. (That makes Bolden’s comments Friday all the stranger: if he couldn’t comment Thursday, why could he say Friday that he hadn’t had any discussions about the position?) Perhaps we’ll get some more clarity Monday. Perhaps not.
I say it is time to open up the betting pool. Put me down for $5 on Charles Bolden. Lol.
Put me down for ten bucks on Jim Oberg – his chances are slim but if he was picked…
Bolden can claim that there isn’t a meeting with WH officials about the position if his meeting wasn’t scheduled formally to talk about it. Did he say that there was no meeting at all? Nope. If I were under an embargo, I’d be the loyal Marine, and take that embargo seriously by just clamming up and speaking in code. No truth in rumors? Sure, why not. If he hasn’t agreed to do it, any rumor that he was going to be nominated is false. Certainly if Bolden has preconditions to agree to do it, he’s not going to imply that his nomination is a done deal. Bolden wants something, and he doesn’t mind playing hard to get. Wonder what it is.
Yes, I’m betting on Bolden too, but lets not devolve into psychoanalysis of Gibbs and Bolden to prejudge what’s going on.
@Doug Lassiter
Which is why I said let’s open up the betting. If we are going to psychoanalyze every word that was said, then we should put our money where our mouths are.
Or we should just chill.
But I’m smiling. I’ll raise you five. Gawd, did you see the way Gibb’s left eyebrow creased when he said it? That can only mean one thing … unless it means the other thing.
I’ve got $500 monopoly money that says that Ferris Valyn will be deputy administrator – I’ll give good odds for any takers
I say Keith Cowing. He could run NASA all day, criticize his own performance by blog and Twitter during breaks, and then write long missives denouncing his critics in the evenings and on weekends.
I can’t say that NASA would be better off, but it sure would be entertaining for a brief period before No Drama Obama put an end to it.
A perfect illustration of how & why White House press secretary press conferences are a whole lot of nothing. Not allowed to say anything that might put the President in a bind or imply that the administration is actually committed to anything specific, each session is an exercise in verbal imprecision and evasiveness.
But at least it lets the press make up what they think they know…like always.
@Orlando Sentinel:
Should’ve “copyrighted” my post…
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2009/05/15/bolden-no-truth-in-the-rumors-about-impending-nomination/#comments
Thanks Jimmy – but somehow I think you’d be much better at that task than I since I’d run myself out of town long before Obama would.