Then: Media thinks Robert Gibbs is a laugh riot. Now: Fill-in press secretary not “ready-for-battle” like Gibbs.

Barack Obama isn’t the only one in the West Wing whose poll numbers are dropping. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ love affair with the press has come crashing down.

The Associated Press reports the sad details:

With a broad grin and aw-shucks approach, Bill Burton is a marked contrast with his boss, the always ready-for-battle White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

While Gibbs comes off as combative and hot, Burton is low-key and self-deprecating. He always seems ready to smile.

Consider this an official sign that the honeymoon is over. Because that’s 180 degrees away from how the media described Robert Gibbs 19 months ago.

Here’s a report from Politico.com:

Robert Gibbs gets a lot of laughs in his briefings

The United States is facing its biggest financial crisis in ages. North Korea is blowing up nukes. Dick Cheney warns us of the “dangers that have not gone away.” And there are still wars raging in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But over in the White House press briefing room, it’s a veritable laugh riot.

Whenever there’s laughter in the James S. Brady Briefing Room — by either the briefer or the briefed — the official White House stenographer indicates as much by inserting “(Laughter.)” into the transcript.

And in Robert Gibbs’ first four months as President Barack Obama’s press secretary, there have been more than 600 instances of “(Laughter.)” during his regular press briefings — an average of more than 10 laughs per day.

It’s a gaudy statistic — and one that puts his predecessors to shame.

Got that? The seriously serious Dana Perino and Tony Snow were shamed by Robert Gibbs, the Funniest Damn Press Secretary in History. At least he was until Bill Burton came along. Now that guy, he’s funny.

Source: Associated Press, Politico.com