Attack Watch Snitch Site a Focus of Internet Fun

COMMENTARY | Back when the Obama administration was young, the White House set up what amounted to a snitch line, an email address where people were invited to report on other people bad-mouthing the president of the United States on health care.

The snitch line was soon taken down. However, it has now been resurrected in the form of a website called Attack Watch. People are invited to use the website to report on other people who are running down President Obama. In this way the Obama campaign for reelection would gather information to “fight smears.”

According to the Washington Post, the reaction has not been as the Obama people have expected.

It seems Attack Watch has become the figure of fun for people on the Internet, particularly conservative bloggers who are flooding the website to turn themselves in. The site has backfired in a spectacular fashion, causing Obama to seem like a paranoid, Nixon-like figure on steroids.

The problem is one of the unstated job descriptions for president is to catch flack from people who don’t like the executive. This can be galling, especially when the attacks get personal or are perceived to be unfair. Various presidents have reacted differently to the chatter of their enemies.

Nixon, for example, compiled an enemies list and plotted against unfriendly reporters. Clinton would constantly complain about the then-nascent talk radio sector, especially Rush Limbaugh, and had a war room-style operation during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

By contrast, Reagan and both Bushes dealt with attacks either with good humor in the former case or by ignoring them in the latter. One criticism of President George W. Bush is that he ignored attacks a little too much, allowing some of the accusations to take hold without a response.

Gathering information about what people and the media are saying about an officeholder is certainly legitimate. But it is not something that can be outsourced. An intern or two surfing the Internet and compiling a daily report would be all that is necessary. Then someone more senior can separate the wheat from the chaff and decide what gets responded to and what gets ignored.

But a snitch site is just too silly for words. Even if the right was not making fun, Attack Watch would be inundated and thus require more staff to sift through. Best it is closed down sooner rather than later.

Sources: ‘[email protected]’ A Snitch Line, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, Aug. 6, 2009

Attack Watch.Com

Attack Watch, new Obama campaign site to ‘fight smears,’ becomes laughing stock, Elizabeth Flock, Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2011


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