Move over, New York Times vs. Wall Street Journal: there’s a new feud in town. Last night, a critical piece about Slate was published on the New York Observer‘s website, sparking a sniping match that might even be interesting to those who don’t work in Manhattan’s news industry.

Someone apparently designated this the weekend for liberal media types to come out against President Obama. And did they ever. And then there was Chris Matthews on Sunday questioning whether the President had been fiddling while Rome burned. Says Matthews: “He should have been focusing on the economy, instead he was focused on making history with health care.”

Criticism of cultural immaturity is all the rage lately, with Slate’s Jacob Weisberg and Newsweek’s Evan Thomas both trying their hand at it recently. But another immaturity critique in this week’s Newsweek, this one by George Will, stands out – unfortunately, it does so for the wrong reasons.

During tomorrow’s prime time address Barack Obama will announce his new strategy for Afghanistan. An event that, among other things, pretty much guarantees a change in the narrative. The narrative for the last little while has been what is Obama doing? Answer: not much. The narrative was so strong SNL even turned it into a skit. There are early signs however this may be about to change.

With Fox News and the White House at each other’s throats, it’s tough to get a word in edgewise. Fox, with its typically boisterous hosts and collected anchors, seems to be guiding the conversation, but it’s the result of an echo chamber, according to Jacob Weisberg in Newsweek. “Respectable journalists” should stop appearing on the channel, he writes.

Slate.com chairman Jacob Weisberg’s thinks the biggest challenge Gawker’s now faces is to not morph “into the sort of journalism it often likes to ridicule.” However, we think the more likely scenario will be that the Times et al. are going to increasingly look (if not necessarily sound) like Gawker?