Desperately Seeking Scott

Poor Scott McClellan can't seem to get it right. I refer to his effectiveness, not to his facts. I don't for a moment doubt what he claims about the Bush White House in his new book, which, thanks to an errant colon, isn't even effectively titled, i.e., "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception."

Alas, I see in the former Bush press secretary an outsized need to gain acceptance of whoever's in power. Right now, that's not the Bush crowd. It's the American people and those who're voicing their views, i.e., the press, broadcasters, bloggers and those of us who're telling pollsters we want the louts thrown out.

Thus, I would say Scott's book comes less from a need to line his pockets or to clear the record than to reinvent himself in ways that make him more palatable to powerful insiders. Right now, the power players are Thee, Me, Opinionmakers and the Anti-Bush Majority--not the George, Dick, Karl and Condi crowd. McClellan knows this and is knocking at our door in hopes we'll admit him to the hearth of professional respect he so obviously lacked while warming himself at the White House fires.

I maintain McClellan has miscalculated. He can sell a million books, and he'll still seem ineffective, still come off the outsider. Why? Because strivers and wannabes lack "it." Sadly, Scott comes off as a striver-wannabe who lacks "it" bigtime. As if we needed more proof, even while the man is out there making news, he's also spinning his own headlines. Serving as his own Second Life avatar, apparently.