Via Atrios:

SW Nebraska: Will any future president be able to do the job on the press, Congress and the public that George Bush has been able to do? What about the politicization of the Justice Department, science, etc? It seems that McClellan has taken the press to task in his book. Will the press be so cooperative with a President again or has the media been reminded that they actually have an important, difficult job to do?

Anne E. Kornblut: I haven't read McClellan's book yet, but really look forward to it, especially on the point you raise. My immediate reaction upon hearing he'd said that was, "Wait, what!? Isn't it the job of those employed at the White House to be straightforward in the first place?"

What's striking about Kornblut's statement -- beyond the unbelievable naiveté (anyone who works at the intersection of politics and the media knows that "straightforwardness" is a relative term) and the incredible evasion of McClellan's charge -- is the extent to which it reveals the complete inability of Kornblut to identify, even in hindsight, the definitive attribute of the administration that has been in power for nearly eight years.

The Bush administration hasn't simply failed to be "straightforward" with the press or the American people. Their mendacity from Day One -- from their reasons for invading Iraq to redacting scientific reports on global warming to justifying their response to Katrina -- has been deliberate, strategic, and (frankly) rapacious.

That Kornblut can't recognize this after eight years of evidence -- remember Armstrong Williams? -- is simply astounding.

Isn't it the job of those employed at the White House to be straightforward in the first place? Korblut asks.

Well, yes, yes, we should hold them to that standard, at least.

But really, Anne? You're only now asking yourself that question?

As for SW Nebraska's initial question -- Will any future president be able to do the job on the press, Congress and the public that George Bush has been able to do? -- the answer, apparently, is yes.