Kathleen Parker: Biden press team honeymoon won't last

The breathlessness surrounding President-elect Joe Biden’s communications and press offices — all women! — should be considered a honeymoon that will end at 1 a.m. Jan. 21, the day after Biden’s inauguration.

It’s all in the stars. Constellations, that is, of media superstars, many of whom have become household names thanks in large part to outgoing President Trump. The gift that kept on giving to reporters, editors, publishers and network bean-counters is leaving town and no longer will provide endless fodder for reporters, commentators and viewers who couldn’t take their eyes off the spectacle.

We knew it couldn’t last. Eventually, the producer in chief would have to leave the Oval Office, and the media would have to scramble for news as in the days before a wheeler-dealer handed them diamonds before breakfast. If Trump wasn’t the media’s favorite president, he was surely their favorite fake wrestler. He was simply easy pickins, by his own choosing. His verbal antics and Twitter frenzies often were served up for particular time slots and news shows.

The Biden spokeswomen mostly come from within the campaign, except for press secretary Jen Psaki, who held several communications titles in the Obama White House. Kate Bedingfield, named White House communications director, served as campaign communications director and will hold the same job she held for Biden when he was vice president. Karine Jean-Pierre, a former NBC and MSNBC political analyst, was tapped from the campaign to become principal deputy White House press secretary. Ashley Etienne, also from the campaign, will be Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ communications director. And Symone Sanders, a former top 2016 presidential campaign aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders, will become Harris’ chief spokeswoman and senior adviser.

The women are understandably excited to step into these important roles. But they’re entering a lion’s den thick with oversize egos. Even though much of the media despised Trump and kept it no secret, this doesn’t mean they’ll go easy on Biden and his spokespeople. In fact, given the largeness of their celebrity status and the need to keep their contracts in a less vital, Trump-free industry, they’re as likely to be tougher than ever.

This much should assuage Trump supporters and others who believe the media are always biased. The media are hard on those in power, full stop. And they care about one thing — the story, which these days also translates into being bookable. Trump was a loaves-and-fishes story who kept growing the media’s audience, ratings and advertising. Without him, one wonders what becomes of those big-budget payrolls. Biden will be more challenging because — let’s be honest — he’ll be boring, which is good for the country but not necessarily good for the bookers, scribes and narrators.

Thus, to the White House communications women, a word of advice: Beware. Celebrity journalists have become the news and have their own empires to protect. They won’t remember that you once rubbed shoulders in makeup. They will run you over if you stand between them and the news.

It will be fun while it lasts, but the novelty of the all-women communications team was a trifle concocted for attention. Nobody sees this more clearly than a White House press corps ever alert to the slightest slip.

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for The Washington Post.