Jay Carney is only now feeling the heat as White House press secretary after a four-year honeymoon with the press, according to Ari Fleischer, who was White House press secretary for George W. Bush.
"Jay had it pretty easy for the first four years of the administration and it's really been only in the last year that the press has done what they did every day in the Bush administration and that was be tough, be critical, and not always believe the administration," Fleischer told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
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"Ideologically of course, I have no agreements with Jay or his boss, but I know what it's like to stand at that podium, to get pounded, not to have good answers sometimes, and that's a club that press secretaries … just suffer through it together."
Fleischer, who now heads his own public relations firm, Fleischer Sports, said Carney isn't the only one facing the heat over the Affordable Care Act problems.
"This a terribly timed double whammy if you're a Democrat … When the substance starts to fall apart, the poll numbers fall apart. The president's numbers have dropped to the lowest levels of his presidency,'' Fleischer said.
"The president might have to split from his liberal base, which is the only group that supports him anymore, to reach an agreement with Republicans. So the Democrats are in a bit of a pickle right now, but I've got to remind you, politics swirls fast.
"Republicans were in a bad position a month or two ago when they misplayed their hand on the government shutdown. It's the Democrats' turn now, but nothing lasts forever in this business."
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