Routledge Obama, the Media, and Framing the U.S. Exit from Iraq and Afghanistan

Situating Obama’s end-of-war discourse in the historical context of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Obama, the Media, and Framing the U.S. Exit from Iraq and Afghanistan begins with a detailed comparison with the Bush war-on-terror security narrative before examining elements of continuity and change in post-9/11 elite rhetoric. Erika King deftly employs two case studies of presidential and media framing - the weeks surrounding the formal announcements of Obama’s December 2009 'surge-then-exit' strategy from Afghanistan and the end of combat operations in Iraq in August 2010 - to explore the role of mass media in presenting presidential narratives of war and finds evidence of an interpretive disconnect between the media and a president seeking to present a more nuanced approach to keeping America safe. Eloquently scrutinizing Obama’s discourse on the U.S. exit from two post-9/11 wars and contrasting the presidential endgame frame with the U.S. mainstream media’s narratives of the wars’ meaning, accomplishments, and denouement provides a unique combination of qualitative content analysis and topical case studies and makes this volume an ideal resource for scholars and researchers grappling with the complicated and ever-evolving nexus of war, the president, and the media. Review ’This is an important book. Judiciously argued and meticulously researched, Erika King astutely deconstructs the nature of the disconnect between President Obama’s public rhetoric and the mainstream media’s post-mortem on the meaning and consequences of withdrawal from Iraq and the anticipated exit from Afghanistan. But significantly, as the country fades to black on the messy and ambiguous legacies of these two wars after over a decade of fighting, the still largely unexamined core assumptions of the Bush-Obama war on terror meta-narrative suggests distressing institutional failure by Congress, the press and the political establishment.’ Robert A. Wells, Thiel College, USA ’Much research has been done on the language of the War on Terror, between 2001 and 2003. This book offers a valuable new analysis of elite and media discourse during the War on Terror’s latter stages. Detailed research answers questions about change and continuity in the language of the War on Terror, as well as the evolving relationship between political and media discourses.’ Jack Holland, University of Surrey, UK ’Recommended.’ Choice 'Obama, the Media, and Framing the U.S. Exit from Iraq and Afghanistan examines two case studies of presidential and media framing: the weeks surrounding the formal announcements of Obama’s December 2009 surge-then-exit strategy from Afghanistan; and the end of combat operations in Iraq in August 2010. ... Erika G. King’s compelling conclusions make this book is attractive to students interested in media framing, war studies, and foreign politics.' LSE Review of Books About the Author Erika G. King is Professor of Political Science at Grand Valley State University. She previously also served as Chair of Political Science and Dean of Social Sciences at GVSU. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University, and has published in the field of political communication and political psychology.