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Rules of Engagement
The White House staff was booked into the Biltmore Four Seasons in Santa Barbara, and when I got back there from the ranch, the president's press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, cornered me. "It's time to lose your virginity," Marlin said. He wanted me to go to the nearby Sheraton Hotel to brief the White House press corps on the INF treaty and other issues covered at Geneva. I was to speak "on background," which meant I was about to become one of those anonymous "senior administration officials" quoted in news accounts.
The White House press corps can be a carnivorous lot, and I braced myself for this first exposure by relying on the techniques drilled into me thirty years before at the Fort Benning Infantry School instructors course -- how to stand, move, use the hands and the voice (never cough or shift your feet); how to organize your thoughts (tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you just told 'em). Communication is still communication, whether to a class of OCS students or to Sam Donaldson. . . .
On this first outing, however, I did pick up a few useful press pointers. I realized that the interviewee is the only one at risk in this duel. The media report only stupid or careless answers, not stupid or unfair questions. Also, when reporters ask a follow-up question, you're headed for trouble -- so break off, apply power, gain altitude, or eject.
