Robert Gibbs' 'modest' $172,000 salary

Was President Obama merely being honest by suggesting his outgoing press secretary gave up a lot to serve in government? Or was he being "tone deaf" in a time of economic suffering?

For the average American worker, Robert Gibbs' six-figure salary may not seem so "modest."
(Image credit: Getty)

President Obama is facing a backlash after telling The New York Times that his outgoing press secretary, Robert Gibbs, could probably use a break after several years of "going 24/7 with relatively modest pay." The Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe, noting that Gibbs was pulling in $172,000 a year, questions the wisdom of calling a six-figure salary "relatively modest" at "a time of persistent unemployment and a sagging economy." Does the remark suggest Obama is out of touch, or was he merely acknowledging that high-powered D.C. officials can earn more in the private sector?

Obama is living in fantasy land: The president's quip about Robert Gibbs' "modest" $172,000 a year salary, says Abby Wisse Schachter in the New York Post, indicates he's "completely tone deaf to the problems faced by most Americans." No wonder he's out there spending money "like a drunken sailor" — bailing out car companies, writing stimulus checks — instead of acting like an adult and righting the "fiscal ship either by cutting spending or raising taxes or both."

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