How the media spun Obama's Afghanistan dithering

But a detailed examination of news coverage of the reassessment issue in the major national newspapers, primarily The Washington Post and The New York Times, suggests that many angles and details of the stories were being carefully fed by White House aides to all-too-willing reporters who dressed it up as the inside dope. In reality, many reporters were steered into spinning the story exactly the way the White House wanted it told, with relatively little skepticism or criticism.

And now that a decision will be announced Tuesday night, here is how the media told it: Obama, faced with a difficult and agonizing decision, was wisely taking his time and deliberatively listening to all of the arguments, pro and con, including dissenters on his staff, pushing the military for more details about goals, tactics, cost in dollars, exit strategies and timetables…

Clearly, the Obama White House was not blindsided by Woodward’s revelation of McChrystal’s report. In fact, it is very likely someone in the White House leaked it to the iconic Woodward to get the already-underway Obama reassessment into the public realm and begin orchestrating the story from their side. How do we know? There are clues…