Bloggers' War of Words over Wolfowitz

While the case of the wayward World Bank president gets plenty of play in the mainstream press, Web wordsmiths are getting down and dirty

"In a last ditch effort to hold onto his presidency at the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz has barricaded himself in his World Bank office, saying that he will go only 'when they pry the international checkbook from my cold dead hands'," writes Tom Burka, the satirist who writes the Opinions You Should Have blog.

"The corruptocrats at the World Bank won't rest until Wolfowitz is either ousted or resigns," writes the woman who calls her blog Sister Toldjah. "This is more than just a smear campaign. It's a setup designed to oust the one person in the World Bank who has tried to reform it."

"Betting is 70% that he will go," writes one anonymous blogger. "Will the last crony to leave please turn out the lights?"

The Power of Pundits

If you thought the story of Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank was polarizing the traditional media, check out the Web. The pundits of the Internet are fighting over Wolfowitz's troubles as if his fate rested in their hands. And who's to say it doesn't, at least in some small way? Inasmuch as they reflect public opinion, what they write in support or in criticism of the World Bank president may indeed play a part in his future.

Wolfowitz, of course, was a controversial figure when in the Bush Administration. He was one of the primary supporters of the Iraq invasion. The battle over his future at the World Bank has in many ways become a proxy for that war, splitting Europeans and Americans, Democrats and Republicans. While The Wall Street Journal's (DJ) editorial pages staunchly defend Wolfowitz, The New York Times (NYT) is more critical. His future has been debated everywhere from the major networks like ABC (DIS) to the satellite radio stations of XM Satellite (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite (SIRI).

On the Internet, the arguments on both sides are even more strident and partisan. On May 15, as the World Bank board met to decide whether Wolfowitz's involvement in his girlfriend's pay increase constituted an ethical breach, one blogger posted a piece entitled Kangaroo Kourt Konvenes. He wrote, "We can't slow this particular locomotive with mere facts; this baby runs on innuendo, fabrication, and misinterpretation."

The Buzz Gets Louder

Then there's Wolfowitz Must Resign, an entire blog dedicated to pushing for his ouster. It proclaims that the bank president's "reign of sleaze and corruption" must end. There's even a Web site called worldbankpresident.org, which is not affiliated with the World Bank but has become a clearinghouse for all sorts of news on the Wolfowitz saga.

The blogosphere buzz has intensified in recent days as World Bank and Bush Administration officials have moved to reach a resolution on the issue. The World Bank board met late on May 15 and endorsed a staff recommendation that Wolfowitz had violated conflict of interest rules.