Is Success for An Audience of One Enough?

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt most likely impressed her most important audience, President Donald Trump, with her maiden appearance at the White House podium yesterday.

She was feisty, combative, unflappable, and stayed on point to the party line.
She bridged reporter’s questions to her talking points, regardless of whether those answers were either responses to the questions asked or satisfactory to the reporters at all. She pivoted when she deemed it necessary. She structured her responses using the boasts and bravado of her boss.

But was she as effective beyond the West Wing?

Her tonality was sharp. Her posture & body language are tight; some might say combative. Like it or not, those physical characteristics can set a negative tone for the relationship between the President and the press corps.

My question: is that the best way to begin? Is setting a tough tone even necessary? Certainly, the job of press secretary is akin to being a circus ringmaster where the lions, and tigers and bears have been let loose simultaneously. But are a whip and a chair the best tools to wield from arguably the most potent soap box in the world?

For Trump fans who dislike and distrust the ‘fake media,’ she undoubtedly scored high grades for putting and keeping the media hoard in its place. For Trump critics, she prompted recollections of other spokesperson failures, including Sean Spicer.

The press sectary’s job has never been ‘easy’ with a sophisticated press corps that has age, maturity, and usually decades-long experience in covering the nuances of DC politics. Ms. Leavitt is young and a relative newcomer, so it would be natural to expect a learning curve requiring a period of time. I’d suggest that the honeymoon window is open only a sliver and closing quickly.

While she has experience from the campaign, the open question will be how does that translate to prime time and for an audience beyond the President? Or, is she simply cannon fodder for Mr. Trump to carry his water until she has been rung out by a critical, disbelieving, and maybe even hostile audience?

Your thoughts?