Oiling the Revolving Door

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Robert Gibbs, senior advisor to President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, has been hired as a contributor to MSNBC and NBC News, Politico reported.

The 41-year-old Auburn, Alabama, native was the 28th White House press secretary, serving in that role for President Obama from 2009 to 2011. Gibbs' association with President Obama dates back to 2004. He also served early on as press secretary during now-Secretary of State John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Gibbs joins a long list of former White House shills who have crossed-over into the news media once they stop taking flak from the White House Press Corps, including Tony Snow (Fox News), Clinton White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos (ABC News), Pierre Sallinger (ABC News), Bill Moyers (PBS) and Dana Perino (Fox News), though, to be fair, some of them were making a return trip.

Not surprisingly, public skepticism spikes whenever a former presidential spokesperson appears as a talking head on a network to offer informed, "objective" commentary about an opposition party's position or representative. It doesn't thrill lifetime journalists either to see these ex-shills begin their ink-stained wretch career on the top rung of the news media ladder.