NYT Reporter Cites Axelrod Calling Psaki ‘Best Press Secretary of His Lifetime’ — Then Asks Her to Admit Afghanistan ‘Failure’
New York Times White House correspondent Michael Shear used an interesting tactic when he tried to cajole White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki into admitting “failure” in Afghanistan.
At Tuesday’s briefing, a day after President Joe Biden delivered a speech defending the withdrawal and attempting to explain the chaos, Shear tried to extract an admission of failure from Psaki by first offering flattery from an old colleague of hers.
“David Axelrod has called you the “best press secretary” in his lifetime, I thin,” Shear began, to which Psaki joked “My mom would like that.”
“Okay,” Shear continued, “But he’s also said that the events of the last weekend are in- — and this is paraphrasing here, but indefensible, I think. He said you ‘can’t defend’ them.”
“And he has basically said that you guys should acknowledge that it was a failure and be willing to say that the events of the last several days were a failure, even as you, maybe, you know, defend the broader question of the drawdown in Afghanistan,” Shear added, then asked, “Why aren’t — what do you say to David Axelrod, who is such a fan of yours?”
Axelrod made the comment about Psaki in the recent Vogue profile of the press secretary, and his comments about the chaos in Afghanistan were made Monday on CNN.
Psaki expressed mutual respect for Axelrod, but declined the invitation to admit “failure” in a response that echoed the president:
MS. PSAKI: Mutual. There are a few people I respect as much as David Axelrod in the world of politics. He’s brilliant. He’s also a great human being.
But he would be the first to say that there is a difference between being on the outside and speaking on television, and being on the inside and the difficult choices that you have to make.
And, as I’ve noted and as Jake noted, even as we’re watching, over the last couple of days, heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching footage, photos — you referred to some of them, Mike — the President stands by his decision because he knows it’s the — in the interest of the United States, our national security, and the American people. And he’s not going to ask mothers and fathers to send their children to fight a war the Afghans won’t fight for themselves.
And that does not mean that there aren’t chaotic moments; there are. That does not mean there aren’t moments that we may look back and, you know, take a look at approaches and how to address things moving forward. Of course. That’s a part of how you assess governing and how you assess operations moving forward.
But right now — and he would be the first — he spent, as you well know, an important role, a vital role advising President Obama — to acknowledge that when you’re in government, you’re faced with difficult choices. The President is faced with difficult choices, so are members of his team. And what you have to always make the decisions based on is what’s in the interest of the American people.
Watch above via C-Span.
