US President Barack Obama said goodbye to his press secretary of three years, Jay Carney, on Friday, in an announcement that took the White House Press Corps by complete surprise, coming as it did on the same day that the president had announced the resignation of embattled Veterans Affairs head Eric Shinseki.

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Carney is to be replaced by his 39-year old deputy, Josh Earnest, the president said, adding that the flak jacket is now being passed on to the next generation.

The podium goodbyes were marked by the usual official niceties and a hug; Carney had, after all, served the president well, most notably through the three major crises that rocked the Obama administration in the last three years -  the Benghazi attacks of September 2012, the NSA-Snowden spying leaks, and the botched rollout of the Obamacare web portal.

Carney, a veteran news person before his White House stint, calmly faced the media in his daily press briefings through those most trying times, skillfully maneuvering through the most difficult questions, and finally coming out of those three years without any major mistakes.

On Friday, Carney described his entire White House experience as "amazing", and "fulfilling" enough that he would stake out until the middle of June.

He said he decided to leave the White House to be closer to home, to spend more time with family, because his children are growing and will not be the same age again, he added.  The president understood, and gave his good friend a big farewell hug.

The story took on a different spin, however, when Carney's fellow journalists began piecing things together. Why the secrecy and suddenness of the changing of guard?  What's wrong with a Press Secretary who has done his job in as perfect and precise a manner as clockwork? 

White House Press Corps insiders say that was exactly what was wrong: Jay Carney served his president too well that his fellow journalists, who were expecting "one of their kind" to be giving them the "meatier" stuff from the White House coverage, became alienated.

Over time, the insiders say, the Obama administration was no longer the darling of the press that it used to be from the start of the campaign down to 2010.  "Blue Jay" was singing a tune that was familiar but not quite familiar, at least not to his erstwhile fellow media men.

The relationship between Obama, his aides and the press has turned from cold to downright adversarial and Carney has not made any notable changes to get back into friendlier terms with the media and its tough correspondents, they added.

Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, on the other hand, was not a former journalist but had earned his experience straight from the political front. He is described as someone who prepares talking points, always outlining and highlighting the important messages that needed to be put across.

In a secretly conducted interview of Earnest when the White House was looking for a potential replacement for Carney, Earnest was said to have told Obama's aides to come to terms with the reality that there will be more media stories that are not to their liking, according to Politico.

Earnest reportedly said the best strategy to deal with that fact was for the administration to face up to any negative news and at least try to succeed at getting their side heard.

The pragmatic approach to dealing with media got him the job, according to media men themselves.

Earnest, who is 10 years younger than both Obama and Carney, is said to have drafted a plan to get the administration back on track in its dealings with the press, even as he prepares to don the "flak jacket" which he intends to wear through the remainder of Obama's term.

Meantime, Jay Carney said he is still unsure what to do next, but has ruled out suggestions that he might be assigned as US Ambassador to Russia, owing to his prior experience as Time's Moscow bureau chief.

TagsJay Carney, Barack Obama, Josh Earnest