Thought of the day

Nicole Wallace, a senior advisor to the McCain-Palin campaign last year and former assistant to President Bush, makes a great point in response to all the back and forth drama going on over Rush Limbaugh’s Saturday CPAC speech:

The most important thing Rush Limbaugh said Saturday night has escaped notice by the mainstream media. The clip that’s running in a constant loop on cable television includes Limbaugh’s comment about wanting “any force, any person, any element of an overarching Big Government that would stop your success. . . to fail.” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made a clever attempt to distort those comments by suggesting that Republicans are rooting for the country’s failure, but most people outside the beltway will simply be puzzled that the White House is engaged in a debate with Limbaugh at all. I can’t imagine George Bush or Andy Card in a debate with Keith Olberman, and I find the entire White House obsession with conservative media personalities like Limbaugh and Sean Hannity bizarre.

Indeed – and it’s a war the Obama administration started in full force last month with these comments from Obama himself.

This isn’t something new. Obama is one of the few presidents – and presidential candidates – I’ve known of in modern history to take on political pundits directly. A year and a half ago, there were a few prominent liberal bloggers upset over the fact that Obama had challenged NYT liberal columnist Paul Krugman on Obama’s healthcare plan, because Krugman was writing column after column criticizing him at one point. A rumor was also floating around about that same time about the possibility that the Obama campaign was gathering oppo research on “progressive bloggers” who were critical of him. That story was never confirmed, but knowing how Obama can’t stand on-the-mark criticisms, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that some of the handlers in his campaign were finding out all they could on liberal bloggers who opposed the then-candidate.

In any event, Wallace provides some food for thought into the strange obsessions of our new President. With everything we’ve got going on with our economy right now, and the war on terror issues that always remain on the table, Team Obama is taking potshots at … Rush Limbaugh – using the mainstream media to help spread the message, and they have oh-so-helpfully aided him by making the focus of so many of their broadcasts about “Rush vs. Obama” or “Rush vs. Steele.” Here’s one of the main reasons why.

It’s clear that when Obama talked back in January about how the GOP “couldn’t listen to Rush Limbaugh and expect to get things done” that the mainstream media were paying attention, because once again they’ve helped make Rush Limbaugh a focal point and have tried to pin prominent conservatives in a corner in an effort to get them to either defend, distance themselves from, or repudiate Rush altogether, which will get them in hot water no matter what they do. Hey, by keeping conservatives defensive over the issue, and by making the country believe that Rush (and the conservatives who don’t hate him) wants to see this country fail, they can keep the American people in the dark about the rightness of conservatism and via extension aid in keeping Democrats in power for at least the next few elections.

That’s not a conspiracy theory – it’s more like what author and media expert Bernard Goldberg classifies as being “just how the media is.” They don’t sit around in a room and cook this stuff up. It’s just that the desire to defeat conservatives and conservatism comes just as naturally to them as breathing.

Frustrating.

6 Responses to "Thought of the day"

jana says:

March 3, 2009 at 12:08 am

It’s not just Rush. Obama can’t get through a day without talking about Fox News or Hannity. They’ve called out Rick Santelli, too.

I can’t imagine any other politician (espcially a President) who’s been so thin-skinned as to pointedly take on critics in such a personal way.

It’s quite unbecoming for a person who holds the highest office in the land to act in such a childish manner. Someone should tell him he’s not in Chicago anymore.
Great White Rat says:

March 3, 2009 at 2:17 am

It’s not simply that Obama is thin-skinned and can’t handle criticism. It’s more than that. It’s a calculated, deliberate plan.

I said this when Obama first went after Rush:

This is all political strategy. It’s right out of the Alinksy playbook….

The next political debate should be on whether Obama’s policies are helping or hurting America. He doesn’t want that debate.

Instead, he wants to frame the next political debate as Obama the Munificent versus Rush the Malevolent. He knows him MSM lickspittles will support him there and ignore the substantive debate over the course America is taking.

One of Alinsky’s rules is to personalize every issue.
Obama’s trying to make Rush the face of the enemy and hopes that will be enough to take your eye off the damage his policies cause.

Since I wrote that, the president has done nothing that would lead me to change that view.
Carlos says:

March 3, 2009 at 8:46 am

There are those who will hate conservatives no matter what because they’re antithetical to irresponsible candyland liberalism. Rush is the face of that enemy and consequently an easier target than taking on all the conservative pundits.

The difference between the “leaders” of the libs (at this point Obama, at least in theory) and Rush (or any of a number of other conservatives) is that the conservatives have ideals that don’t mutate with public opinion. Rush is most capable of expressing those unmutated ideals effectively to the average person without bashing the opposition, and is therefore the greatest danger to the left: he simply makes people think instead of doing their thinking for them. That’s impossible for the left to compete with because their entire agenda is based upon mind control.
Tango says:

March 3, 2009 at 9:59 am

…I do not believe that BarryO has anywhere NEAR the firepower to successfully take on Rush Limbaugh. Clinton tried and failed, and I don’t believe the community organizer will fare any better.
Lorica says:

March 3, 2009 at 11:41 am

Actually I think he is going to fair worse. This guy is no slick Willy. The deeper we go into this presidency the less I like it. This man’s handlers are not at all smart people and they are over-reaching their hands. I mean seriously, these are the same people who complained about how stupid GW was, but were only able to best him 1 time with the social security debate and all they did there was scare the elderly.

I have come to a point where I just despise liberals of any size or shape. They are stupid, arrogant, and selfish, even the “good works” they attempt to do are for selfish reasons. They don’t want to get their own hands dirty, but they don’t mind ordering someone else to do it, or they won’t use their own money for charitable giving, but they will tax you to death to steal yours and use it. They are laughable at best, and destructive at worse, and I am losing all hope we will ever recover from this presidency.

It was good knowing you all. How soon before we start calling each other comrades, how soon before we are the USS of A, United Socialist States of America. – Lorica
Brontefan says:

March 3, 2009 at 3:04 pm

I agree Lorica, it will be very difficult to “recover” from this Presidency. Obama, who can’t possibly think he has any shot at a second term, is out to do as much damage to the country as he can. I suppose this is why he wants to engage Rush–or at least discredit him–since Rush has his number dead-on. As for liberals, my whole extended family –who were born and raised Democrats–adore this guy and have sincere antipathy for me. I am the traitor; it is redundant to point out that by today’s standards JFK would be conservative or that I actually went to college and survived the ultra “bleeding” left liberal indoctrination. As a literature major, I was able to research and discover my own way. The fact that my own family refuses to speak to me only strengthens my resolve. Liberals are stupid & arrogant, but what is worse they have this routine of insisting that if a lie is told often enough, loud enough, in as many venues as possible–it becomes truth. It doesn’t! And most refuse to research the issues for themselves. They rely on media soundbites and obtuse logic. I suppose it doesn’t help that the mainstream media and Hollywood celebs are in the tank–and promote the obtuse logic. I am also afraid the damage will be so extensive, adding his power grabs and manipulation of the Electoral College through his control over the 2010 Census [just like ACORN], that we may not recover. God help us!

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