White House Communications Director Anita Dunn is stepping down. Her deputy, Dan Pfeiffer, will replace her.
(SUSAN WALSH / AP / FILE)Photos (1 of 1)
Dan Pfeiffer to replace Anita Dunn, Fox News takes parting shot
By Dave Cook | 11.10.09
For the second time in 11 months, the job of White House communications director is turning over. Dan Pfeiffer will replace Anita Dunn at the end of November, and foe Fox News could not refrain from responding with an on-air jab.
As first reported by Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post blog, “The Fix,” Ms. Dunn will leave the administration and return to the prominent Democratic consulting firm of Squier Knapp Dunn. She will continue to advise the president after she leaves the White House.
Dunn reportedly will be replaced by her deputy, Mr. Pfeiffer, who began working for then-candidate Obama in 2007. Pfeiffer served as traveling press secretary for the Obama campaign and later oversaw its communications operation. A veteran political operative, he worked on South Dakota senatorial campaigns for Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle.
An ‘interim’ White House occupant
Dunn moved into an office on the first floor of the West Wing on what she said was an “interim” basis after the sudden departure in April of Ellen Moran, the Obama administration’s first communications director.
Ms. Moran was a relative newcomer to the Obama team, while Dunn was a key adviser to Mr. Obama during the presidential campaign. Dunn was one of four top advisers – along with press secretary Robert Gibbs, senior adviser David Axelrod, and campaign manager David Plouffe – to be interviewed by “60 Minutes” after Obama’s victory speech on election night.
On Oct. 11, Dunn triggered a major political controversy when she said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” that Fox News was “a wing of the Republican Party” adding “let’s not pretend they’re a news organization like CNN.”
The Fox News view
In announcing Dunn’s departure, Fox News anchor Jon Scott kept the controversy going. As transcribed by Politico, Scott said, “Anita Dunn is the person at the White House who decided it would be a good idea to try to freeze Fox News out of the White House operation, keep the president from doing interviews with Fox News personnel, keep high-level administration officials from doing interviews with Fox News.”
An administration official told Politico that Dunn’s departure was not related to the controversy regarding Fox. Dunn was open about wanting to leave the White House pressure cooker and spend more time with her son and husband, Bob Bauer. Mr. Bauer is Obama’s personal attorney.
See also:
The FOX News war. What’s in it for Obama?
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<< PBS says Sesame Street parody on FOX News was wrong | MainComments
2. M Lewis | 11.11.09
Why can’t the news report just what has happened vs. the speculation- makes what was supposed to be impartial, partial- too bad we can’t go back to the old yellow peril and all that, we are there now, but I guess its’ okay-
4. ccamealy | 11.12.09
There isn’t any parting shot. Fox News dared mention that Anita Dunn and the rest of the Obama administration can’t stand the fact that Fox News doesn’t give them all a free pass.
5. Betty Merry | 11.13.09
Anita Dunn has not REALLY steped down, she still advises the president…she’s married to Obama’s personal attorney defending him from the birther controversy. SO, has she really stepped down or just switched positions with her husband who may or may not admire MAO TSE TUNG as much or more than she does?
6. Like It Is | 11.13.09
Anita Dunn said that Fox News was a wing of the Republican Party. She said “Lets not pretend that they are a news organization like CNN.” Now that Lou Dobbs has left CNN they are nothing but a wing of the Democratic Party.
8. Dennis Kerr | 11.13.09
Fox news, owned by Rupert Murdoch is neither a news organization, nor a mouthpiece for the Republican party. It pretends to do both, with mixed results. Fox News, does the exact opposite of the mission of the CS Monitor. That is why I read the web page of CSM.
Mary Baker Eddy created the Monitor to “injure no man, and be a blessing to all mankind.” Fox News is a political tabloid that seeks to do the opposite.
By pretending to be a “Republican” news source, they are doing harm to the Republican party. By supporting unrestricted trade with China, they are harming everyone by reducing and minimizing the coverage of how China changes our economy.
Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, and Fox News make much more income in China than in the U.S. So which party do they really represent?
9. smiley rumpole | 11.13.09
Only Fox showed the video clip of Anita Dunn addressing high school students
and praising Chairman Mao, red party executioner par excellence.
10. Wendell Archer | 11.13.09
I could not tell if there was any partisanship in that clip. Is it me or do some people just like to make things contriversial that, by nature, are not?
11. george Lauer | 11.13.09
The principal reason we do not view newpaper websites is Leave a Comment. Every comment will be personal and prove absolutely nothing, nada, zilch.
12. dan woods | 11.17.09
Why doesn’t she quote one of our founding fathers as someone she looks to the most and not Mao? That is controversial.
13. Uncle Buck | 11.18.09
I find it very interesting that Obama (finally) gives Fox an interview in China as she packs and leaves. Major Garret is a class act and with an impeccable reputation.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Pal | 11.11.09
Sorry to see her go. She was the one of the things to happen to conservatives in years right after the man she worked for. I hate to see her go.