Friday, April 02, 2004

Spin Cycle: The White House is finally getting their touch back in figuring out how to spin bad news into gold. After making the Richard Clarke situation 10 times worse through their panicked response, they're now putting the yawning boy on a pedestal by getting him a spot on the Letterman Show.

For those who haven't heard, David Letterman this week showed clips of a boy who could barely stand up straight behind Bush during one of the president's speeches. The 12-year-old kept yawning, looking at his watch, and shuffling from side to side as the speech went on for an hour.

The White House could have easily ignored it, and the footage would have gone away within a couple weeks. Instead, they're exploiting it. That shows good humor on the part of the president. But also, the kid is in a family made up of rabid Bush supporters. So the boy, sure enough, thinks highly of the president as well.

Now age 13, the boy will be a guest on Letterman's show tonight. We'll see how well he performs. But even as Letterman teases him, the boy will have a chance to spout off a couple lines he's memorized on how President Bush is his hero, or somesuch.

A teenage kid is getting a national stage to endorse the president. We'll see how Letterman handles this. But it sounds like this could be an entertaining and positive for the administration.