Big process news: White House Communications Director Anita Dunn is resigning. Deputy Dan Pfeiffer will take over. This is not a rebuke for Dunn; she made it clear from the get-go that her job was a temporary one. From Politico:

Anita Dunn is stepping down from her post as White House communications director, and her deputy, Dan Pfeiffer, will be replacing her, a White House official confirmed Tuesday.

Dunn took the job on an interim basis about six months ago after the first person Obama named to the key post, former Emily's List director Ellen Moran, left the post for the Commerce Department, citing family reasons.

Dunn, a longtime Democratic political consultant, made few headlines in the White House until last month when she seemed to kick off a crusade aimed at de-legitimizing Fox News. The anti-Fox campaign generated criticism from other members of the press as well as a lot of second-guessing from other Democratic strategists, some of whom described it as an unnecessary distraction.

I think this is a good thing. I despise Fox News (except for Shepard Smith) and think the White House should more or less ignore it, and it was right to push back a little when the rest of the MSM began following Fox's lead on stories like ACORN and Van Jones, but there came a point when Dunn and her team just went too far. Fox needs to be slapped, but you don't want that fight to overshadow the rest of your message as was always clear would happen. Besides, Saturday Night Live and Jon Stewart can handle much of that battle on their own. No, what the White House communications staff needs to do is focus more on crafting a presidential narrative rather than on one media outlet. As Tom Friedman said earlier this month, Obama's otherwise masterful speeches have "not tied all his programs into a single narrative that shows the links between his health care, banking, economic, climate, energy, education and foreign policies. Such a narrative would enable each issue and each constituency to reinforce the other and evoke the kind of popular excitement that got him elected."

Perhaps a new communications shop will help achieve that goal. Dunn, of course, wouldn't have deserved to be fired, and I wouldn't have called for her ouster over such small things, but this is the perfect time for a planned voluntary shake-up. Best wishes to Dunn in whatever comes next, and high expectations for Pfeiffer.

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Hi MyDDers! I don't diary here often anymore -- it's been nearly a year (October 31, 2008) since I last did so -- but I'm bored and having more trouble sleeping than usual this morning. And of course, there are still a few of you here who haven't migrated, who I still miss. This diary was really just an excuse to post fun anti-Faux pics. Those of you I don't see often anymore, please pop in and say hello downthread! - sricki

I have probably watched more Fox "News" than any regular here on The Moose MyDD. In fact, I'd wager I have watched more of it than most rank and file Republicans, since I'm much more of a news junky than your average Joe. Growing up in a conservative household, it was pretty hard to escape it. (I have probably listened to more Rush than the rest of you, too, for that matter.) I have always enjoyed my parents -- despite their unfortunate political leanings, they are smart, funny, cool people in most respects -- and since they watched Fixed News in the den, I spent a lot of time viewing it as well, simply because it was a way of spending time with them and discussing the day's events.

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White House Communications Director Anita Dunn is on the mark:

The reality of it is that Fox News often operates as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. And it's not ideological. I mean, obviously there are many commentators who are conservative, liberal, centrist, and everybody understands that. What I think is fair to say about Fox is -- and certainly the way we view it -- is that it really is more of a wing of the Republican Party.

Coming on the heels of the Obama White House's public snubbing of Fox News, this decision to call the network what it is -- a thoroughly partisan entity, not a news organization -- is another positive step from a communications team that is realizing that while it is important to reach out to the other side, there is only value in reaching out to those who are good faith actors rather than opposition hacks.

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