Sean Spicer resigned as White House Press Secretary on Friday. Journalists immediately jumped on this as an example of yet more turmoil and harped on Spicer’s “missteps.” But White House tumult is hardly new, even for Presidents who would go on to serve two terms. ABC should know, considering that the network admitted in 1993 that then-President Bill Clinton “shunted aside” top aide George Stephanopoulos in favor of “grown-up” David Gergen. Stephanopoulos would go on to eventually host Good Morning America on the network.
After a string of verbal miscues, Stephanopoulos lost his job as Clinton’s de-facto press secretary. Longtime operative David Gergen was brought in as his replacement. On May 29, 1993, Sam Donaldson explained on World News: Saturday: “While Mr. Clinton made it sound like communications director George Stephanopoulos is getting back to more important duties, Stephanopoulos is clearly being shunted aside.”
Journalists, who like to celebrate any bad news for Trump, seem to have forgotten Clinton’s early disasters. On the same World News, Donaldson worried: “To much of political Washington, it was a move that smelled of desperation, bringing in Republican David Gergen to help save a Democratic presidency in deep trouble.”
Stephanopoulos, who is now the liberal co-host of GMA, endured abuse from people who are now his colleagues. Cokie Roberts mocked Stephanopoulos, explaining how important it is to “get his picture off the screen”:
Obviously the President has to say something nice about George Stephanopoulos, who's been very helpful to him, and George Stephanopoulos does know people here on Capitol Hill very well. He worked here for a good while. But I think the important thing is to get his picture off the screen night after night. It just gives much too much of a youthful image to an already youthful White House. You need someone with a little more age on him.
On the May 30, 1993 edition of This Week With David Brinkley, Roberts piled on, attacking the “scary” Stephanopoulos:
The idea of seeing a person who, granted, is smart, but appears extremely young - George Stephanopoulos - standing up there, telling us what the President of the United States is up to is a little bit scary to most people. They'd like to see a grown-up.
Again, Clinton went on to serve two terms as President, something that the journalists who are currently freaking out should consider.
