But Mr. Clinton's aides were crowing today about the "extraordinary," "historic" summit meeting, and they gave reporters a briefing by a senior official talking "on background" about the 18 months of preparation Mr. Clinton and his staff had made to pull off the event.
Spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker told the Washington Post yesterday: "I had talked on background with a Republican convention planner a couple of weeks ago who said, 'Don't mention overtime.
They tended to talk, even on background, as if they were working in the mainstream tradition of U.S. foreign policy, and they behaved, at least outwardly, as though they were not grappling every day with an Administration that was radically unstable.
Some of them hung up on me, would talk only on background or hinted that she was hiding something.
A few weeks ago, I talked extensively on background with a prominent Republican strategist who's involved in the party's efforts this fall, and he made the point that the party can find the right messaging, get all of its candidates in line, deploy the right amount of money to the right races — all of that — and then be utterly foiled by a presidential temper tantrum in the final week.
And to get teachers talking, even on background, about their anger and frustration at this flummery?
The need to balance "the legal prohibitions and the opportunities" of working with administrative records is a long-running issue for federal agencies, says a senior OMB official, who agreed to talk with ScienceInsider on background.
told The Huffington Post, referring to his ongoing talks on gun background checks with Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill)., Joe Manchin (D-W.Va).
