WASHINGTON – At his first press briefing, new White House Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted that he was not ready for prime time – at least when it comes to getting mocked on live TV.
Asked by a reporter if he has “a preference on which member of the cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’ plays you this weekend,” Carney sighed, “God forbid that anyone does.”
Carney, who replaced Robert Gibbs as Obama’s mouthpiece, wasn’t entirely new to White House press briefings. He sat through plenty as a Time magazine’s Washington bureau chief.
He also spent the last two years batting away reporters’ questions as Vice President Joe Biden’s press secretary.
Still, it was his TV debut on the other side of the White House podium.
Carney mostly stuck to talking points: Obama’s budget reins in spending, Obama is ready to fix Social Security and Medicare, and he still wants to close Guantanamo Bay detention center.
He deflected to the State Department a question about Iran sending war ships into the Suez Canal, and he ducked a question about whether Obama’s vow not to “slash” Social Security benefits meant he opposed any reductions.
Carney promised to do his best to find the right balance in his new job.
“I do work for the president, but I’m also here to help the press understand what we’re doing,” he said. “And that’s what I will try to do.”
smiller@nypost.com