Vanity Fair’s Michael Wolff writes a thought-provoking profile of the Obama press operation in the latest issue that he admits is lacking one key thing: An interview with Robert Gibbs:

Even though I’ve been invited to the White House for a talk with Gibbs, there’s an abrupt cancellation when, after some chitchat with Burton, it becomes clear that my interest is in process rather than, per se, message. And then a kind of sudden vaporization—no Gibbs, according to Marissa Hopkins, his assistant, “for the foreseeable future.”

I suspect that in preparing for the interview, Gibbs may have read Wolff’s similar profile piece on Scott McClellan in May of 2006, which coincidentally or not, shortly preceded his replacement by Tony Snow. Wolff’s description of Scott is so memorable for its over-the-top criticism, it’s worth re-reading:

It’s this verbal haplessness that has made Scott McClellan—a pleasant, low-wattage, old-before-his-time young fellow, with, at 38, a wife, no children, and “two dogs and four cats”—the living symbol of this White House’s profound and, perhaps, mortal problem with language and meaning. McClellan himself, as though having some terrible social disability, has, standing miserably in the press briefing room every day, become a kick-me archetype. He’s Piggy in Lord of the Flies: a living victim, whose reason for being is, apparently, to shoulder public ridicule and pain (or, come to think of it, he’s Squealer from Animal Farm). He’s the person nobody would ever choose to be.

Absent a similar access to the new White House press secretary, Wolff focuses on Gibbs’ deputy, Bill Burton, and comes away impressed with the Obama press operation:

They have been handed a most remarkable historical moment—in which they get to remake the media in their own image. They have the power and they are the subject. These people in this White House are in greater control of the media than any administration before them.

I’ve written a fair amount about the changing nature of the media and the Obama White House’s attempts to manage it. And I could not disagree more with Wolff.

For starters, the decentralization of the media makes it harder – not easier – to control media and disseminate a message, which makes message discipline and surrogate development more important than ever. And, as I’ve previously written, this White House has not done an especially impressive job of either, failing to develope durable messages or raise the profile of other Administration figures who can consistently act as surrogates.

Just consider the messaging on the Sonya Sotomayor’s nomination last week: Aside from the President himself, the White House’s primary surrogate defending her on TV is David Axelrod – who is a political strategist, not a lawyer. And their shiny new talking point defending her (as highlighted on the NBC “Inside the White House” special) was rendered inoperative within a week.

Wolff walks away impressed by Obama’s press operation because it functions at multiple levels: Feeding minute-by-minute nuggets to POLITICO; partisan hits to Huffington Post; serious news to the New York Times; and celebrity gossip to Inside Edition. I suppose that’s all true, but it’s really no different than what the McCain campaign and RNC did last cycle. Which might also explain why Gibbs opted to not discuss his team’s strategy with Vanity Fair.