Project for Excellence in Journalism

Bloggers War over 'Obama's Wars'

September 30, 2010

A new book by Bob Woodward examining the Obama administration's internal debate over the Afghanistan war triggered a torrent of criticism of the president by conservative bloggers last week.

From Sept. 20-24, more than one-third (35%) of the news links on blogs were about Woodward's book, "Obama's Wars," making it the week's No. 1 subject, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

In his book, Woodward -- a Washington Post associate editor and half of the famous reporting duo that unraveled the Watergate cover-up -- depicted significant divisions and debates within the administration as Obama tried to formulate a strategy in Afghanistan. He ultimately decided to send 30,000 more troops to the country.

But the bloggers who dominated the conversation last week focused largely on one quote from Obama printed in a Washington Post article on the book: "We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever ... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

In a series of critical and often angry posts, many bloggers seized on that passage to argue that the president is indifferent to whether America is attacked by terrorists again. It was somewhat similar to criticism of Obama voiced by such well-known Republican figures as Liz Cheney, the former vice president's daughter, and ex-New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

The tone of the online conversation over politics and public policy can often vary between partisan ferocity and an almost-wonkish dissection of the issues. Last week was an example of the former.

The other top subjects on blogs last week included two stories from the Washington Post about companies behaving badly. In second place, 14% of blogs linked to a Sept. 20 story about major health insurers deciding to stop offering new child-only health plans rather than comply with rules in the new health care law requiring plans to accept children with preexisting conditions. The No. 5 story (6% of links) was a Sept. 22 article about some of the nation's largest mortgage companies using a single document processor who said he signed off on foreclosures without having read the paperwork.

The blogs linking to the health care story came from both sides of the political spectrum. Conservatives derided the outcome saying it was another example of the problems with "ObamaCare," while liberal bloggers saw it as evidence of greedy insurance companies.

The third biggest story (8% of links) was a Sept. 17 Washington Post article about the local ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. firing veteran anchor Doug McKelway. Next, at 7% and No. 4, was a Sept. 18 Washington Post article about the accusation that members of the Stryker Combat Brigade in Afghanistan killed Afghan civilians for sport.

All the top blog subjects were linked to pieces in the Washington Post, which tends to be a popular source for bloggers.

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.

_{*For the sake of authenticity, PEJ has a policy of not correcting misspellings or grammatical errors that appear in direct quotes from blog postings.}