Bio Brief - Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was recently in the news for his snide attack on Palin by writing notes on his hand. I have never liked the man and this little episode didn’t help. Maybe it is his smirks or his attempts at sarcasm or perhaps just his general demeanor. Whatever it was I can’t help getting the feeling that this was the kid in high school who was given constant wedgies, and now in a position of power, he is getting back at the popular kids. I could be way off base, but who knows? Who is Robert Gibbs? What is his background and how did he end up as President Obama’s Press Secretary? So it is time again for one of my Bio Briefs.

Robert Gibbs was born in 1971 in Auburn Alabama, and as Wikipedia goes on to report, both of his parents worked in the Auburn University’s library system. Most bios on Gibbs state that rather than hire a babysitter; his mother would take him with her to League of Women Voters meetings and that his family discussed politics and these meetings during dinner. Librarian parents and League of Women Voters meetings? Oh yeah, I bet I was right about his getting those wedgies in middle school. Maybe, as Wikipedia surmised, this helped hone Gibbs’ interest in politics but I doubt if it helped his reputation in school. Playing the saxophone and being on the debate team probably didn’t help his popularity either. On the other hand he was also the goal keeper on his school’s soccer team, although this was a solo position, apart from the rest of the team.

This was all the information about his earlier life that I could find. The 5 or 6 bios I read provided only these few facts, I still don’t even know if he is on only child or if he has siblings! In fact one bio mentioned four famous people who graduated in his high school class, making it seem as if Gibbs was famous or at least more interesting because of his association with these famous people rather than because of himself. And they might be right.

According to Wikipedia, from 1990-1992 Robert Gibbs continued as a goal keeper but now at North Carolina State University where he graduated cum laude with a degree in political science. That’s it. That one line contains the entire upper educational history for this man. No mention of any other honors, awards, clubs, anything other than that he was on the soccer team for two years. I can’t even find any mention of the year in which he graduated!

Moving on to his early career, while in school, in 1991 Gibbs interned for Alabama Congressman Glenn Browder, eventually becoming his executive assistant in Washington DC. In 1996 Gibbs moved back to Alabama to work on Browders Senatorial campaign, which was unsuccessful. In 1997, 1998 and 1999 Gibbs worked on a different campaign during each of these three years. Then during the 2000 elections, Gibbs worked on Senator Debbie Stabenow’s senate run. According to WhoRunsGov. Com, Stabinow’s unexpected win brought Gibbs to the attention of Jim Jordan, the then executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Gibbs was then hired to help with the 2002 elections.

In 2003 Jordan was now working on the Kerry campaign and hired Gibbs to be Kerry’s press secretary. But in November 2003 Gibbs quit in protest after Kerry fired Gibb’s mentor Jim Jordon. Yet Gibbs continued to support Kerry’s run for the presidency. In fact, when Gibbs became the spokesman for a liberal advocacy group they launched a vindictive ad using pictures of Osama Bin Laden to attack Howard Dean’s foreign policy experience. This started Gibbs’ reputation as a man who would do whatever it takes to elect his man and maintain his employer’s reputation. Kerry eventually apologized to both Jordan and Gibbs but instead of returning to work for him, Gibbs joined the Obama team.

Robert Gibbs joined team Obama in mid April 2004 and eventually became Obama’s Senate Communications Director. Obama then choose Gibbs as his Senior Strategist for Communications and Message during Obama’s successful run for the 2008 presidency. In 2009 Robert Gibbs then became President Obama’s Press Secretary. As for his personal life, he is married to Mary, a VA attorney and they have one son.

That’s it. Very basic data that wouldn’t be fit even for a resume. Most of his bios don’t even tell you if he worked on winning or losing campaigns from 1997 to 2000! And about the only personal traits we can discern from this bio is that he seems to be a loner, not one who joins groups as he rarely joined any groups or clubs nor do we read of any religious affiliation. Yet he is extremely loyal to whomever he works for, almost to a fault, as he has a reputation of doing whatever it takes to help his man. So in spite of his soft southern accent Gibbs has been called ruthless, aggressive, pugnacious, manipulative and bad cop to Obama’s good cop.

There was one other factor which most bio’s mentioned – Gibbs’ relationship with Obama. Apparently the two men are very close friends. According to the NY Times, Gibbs is more than just a Press Secretary; he is also involved in strategy, politics and messages. I’ve read that he is called “Barack Whisperer” due to his closeness to the President and I’ve also read that he is called “The Enforcer” because of his rapid fire response to any derogatory remarks from the opposition. In addition to the counter attack strategy he has also been credited with the low number of leaks due to his tough management style.

So who is the man? Although his is the face we see each day we truly don’t know much about the man. What is he whispering to our president? What are his beliefs? What makes him tick? Maybe not knowing is what makes him the perfect Press Secretary. He is a blank page on which Obama writes his story and gives his messages.


PS – While proofing my material I discovered that Gibbs does have a brother based on a sentence discussing his mother in whorunsgov.com – “…she brought her two sons with her..” That is the only clue that there is a sibling although he might even be deceased by now. Who knows?