Friday, October 15, 2010

Rhee's flack

Watch for Michelle Rhee to cash in after her flash-in-the-pan tour as D.C. school boss and ace reformer. Like Sarah Palin, who bailed mid-term from her job as Alaska's governor, everything should be coming up green for Rhee, provided she is handled right and with her name kept in the public eye. From here on out you can expect to see Rhee, armed with her new school-reform Manifesto, appearing in dozens of planted, non-stories like this onethis oneand this one as well as appearances on Letterman, Larry King, and Oprah. New books and speaking tours with six-figure honoraria are definitely in the offing. She has made it clear that her brief career as a school administrator is behind her.

Building off of Rhee's starring role in Waiting For Superman is super-flack Anita Dunn and her well-connected SKDKnickerbocker (the D stands for Dunn) firm.  Look for Dunn to pitch Rhee as the dynamic school reformer who fell victim to the power of a demonic teachers union  and all those self-serving black D.C. voters who gave her and ex-Mayor Fenty the boot.

Dunn, was part of Pres. Obama's inner circle until she was unceremoniously fired in order to appease liberal-hunting attacks by right-wing conservatives and the FOX network. She left the administration quietly and then re-joined her SKD firm. She drew the assignment of doing damage control for Rhee, saving her from a few of her many missteps. Like the time Rhee touched off a four-day furor after she told a local magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 District public school teachers she had fired had "had sex with students."

The firm also has close ties to Rhee's patrons like Gates and Broad foundations. According to their website, 
"We helped Bill Gates tell the Microsoft story when he was under assault by the Justice Department."
They've run political campaigns for the likes of Michael Bloomberg in N.Y, Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, and other centrist and Blue Dog Democrats.

But Michelle Rhee may turn out to be their hottest client since the president.

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