Your taste is all in your Mouth: Baraketology;

"Spin" is a word synonymous with the corporeal nature of appearances in Politics. "Appearance is reality," is a mantra that has afforded me some humor in my time: "There's NO such _thing_ as BAD publicity!"
"Does this _APPEAR_ to be GOOD publicity?"
If I'm creative and it's still pertinent I'll exert myself to append some more.

In Basketball, "spin" is primarily employed gyroscopically to balance the ball on one finger for theatrics - someone once recommended smashing vertically down on the ball so balanced on the finger of a romantic rival :-) He wasn't in the mood for "spin."

The newly minted coin of flattery "Baraketology," telegraphs pointedly to me that no one person yet rules POTUS' PR...I don't think Plouffe really failed to anticipate that some would view the term as "confirmed self promotion, brazen and unabashed." Someone, somewhere is hockey checking Plouffe.

I think Politics' recent Jackie Robinson was badly served that day... it is to the advantage of all Americans for ALL American Presidents to do well.

In his day, Mr. Robinson faced ethnic hatred, brazen and unabashed: he was "beaned" first pitch if possible first time at the plate at every game until he'd "paid his dues." Baseball Stats had been popularized to level a player-trading arena early in the century. When public sentiments were so badly offended by the prominent trade of "The Bambino" from the Red Sox to the Yankees, Stats had been highlighted to even up comparisons; when Jackie Robinson was beaned, he was sent to first base, "hit by pitch." As such, "Whitey" sacrificed himself to a _stellar_ "on base percentage," just to mollify racial controversy. I'm not enough of an aficionado to know, but I am curious how the new Bill James stats system would have treated a non-ethnic player continually flinching from the opposing pitcher's collaboration with team orders.

POTUS has not yet accommodated insiders by becoming subject to spin in solidarity to poor Washington performance. I think it is tolerant of him to allow a pratfall in what is otherwise his favored personal constituency. He LIKES Basketball - "spin" is to no avail in the teamwork this sport teaches.

I'm personally moved to observe that, while I evaluated the move as a lose-lose PR-wise, the author of it certainly silenced me - I can't even say WHY I thought it was so stupid. The author really SHOULD get credit -

Free Speech is RESPONSIBLE speech