Jay Carney — who stepped down as White House press secretary in May — is joining CNN as a political commentator. And we can't say we didn't see this see one coming. (Video via The White House)
Carney is, after all, hardly the first Obama administration official to make the move to network news.
Carney's predecessor in the job, Robert Gibbs, along with Obama's former senior adviser David Axelrod, are both regular contributors to MSNBC. The trend, however, isn't limited to the Obama White House.
Former Bush officials can be seen on Fox News. That includes Bush press secretary Dana Perino, now co-host of of "The Five," and former Bush aide Karl Rove, who is a regular political contributor on the network. (Video via Talking Points Memo, Fox News)
And then there's George Stephanopoulos. Once the senior adviser to Bill Clinton, he's perhaps better recognized now for his hosting jobs on ABC's "This Week" and "Good Morning America." (Video via William J. Clinton Presidential Library, ABC)
Clearly, taking cushy TV gigs has become somewhat of a trend among White House alumni. As Bill Carter of The New York Times wrote last year, "The path from political adviser to expert commentator on television has been well trod."
"Well trod," perhaps, but even before Carney's jump to CNN, The Washington Post's David Ignatius was calling the trend problematic, blaming it for contributing to public mistrust of the media.
"The trend everywhere in the news business is toward more openly, avowedly partisan commentary, and away from the plain vanilla, down-the-middle variety (which has biases of its own)."
But CNN puts it like this, saying Carney's "unique experience as both a journalist and a White House press secretary make him an invaluable voice for the network."
Prior to working in the White House, Carney covered the White House as Time's Washington bureau chief.
Carney resigned after more than three years as White House spokesperson. Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest was then promoted to the role. (Video via The White House)
Carney will make his first appearance as a political commentator at CNN Wednesday — the same night President Obama addresses the nation on his ISIS strategy.
This video includes an image from sylartinitaly / CC BY ND 2.0.
