Rush Limbaugh's meltdown

Original Link: http://voices.kansascity.com/node/3458

By Yael T. Abouhalkah

Radio host Rush Limbaugh has millions of listeners for good reasons.

He's entertaining. He's provocative. And, yes, he's very conservative, appealing to the staunchly pro-GOP, anti-Democratic Party crowd. Limbaugh also can be very foolish.

He has proved that twice since the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Limbaugh has issued statements directed at the new president, statements designed to get him attention from the media and public.

-- "I hope he fails," Limbaugh said last week, at the height of all the positive attention directed at Obama's inauguration.

-- Obama "is obviously more frightened of me than he is (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell. He’s more frightened of me, then he is of say, (House Minority Leader) John Boehner, which doesn’t say much about our party," Limbaugh said Monday.

National columnists like Leonard Pitts are calling Limbaugh a clown and worse.

Yes, all journalists realize this is exactly what Limbaugh wants. He craves attention, an audience to support his radio empire. I used to listen to him occasionally in the 1990s, when I was at home with my children, mostly for the sheer entertainment value.

But there's also something wrong with being silent, and allowing Limbaugh just to say stupid things that don't make sense.

Of course a few Americans want Obama to fail. They are meanspirited and don't recognize that -- if Obama fails -- the recession could last longer, wars in the Middle East might not get solved and a lot of problems this country has will continue longer than they should.

Wanting Obama to fail means wanting the country to fail, and that's plainly nonsensical.

As for Obama being scared of Limbaugh, it's clearly foolish rhetoric. The radio host has no power to block anything in the U.S. House or Senate. Boehner and McConnell do.

They truly are people that Obama needs to be concerned with, talking with, trying to work out problems with, all to help the country get back on track.

Limbaugh has a role to play in American politics, to screech the rant of the far-right. Let him do it, and let his critics point out when he's gone too far, as he has recently.


Submitted by Yael T. Abouhalkah on January 27, 2009 - 8:25am.
National Politics Yael T. Abouhalkah Login or register to post comments 8294 reads Delicious Digg
Whacky? We'll show you whacky!
Submitted by Radicalizedmoderate on January 29, 2009 - 7:44am.

It appears that the right wing of the republican party has decided that they were defeated in the November elections because they just weren't right wing enough. The strategy seems to be to make the tent smaller and circle the wagons. I saw a stat somewhere that they now number fewer than one in five Americans. Somebody needs to get clued-in that it takes more votes to win, not fewer. It seems like a lose-lose strategy. Resist and be blamed for the worsening economy or do-nothing and be blamed for inaction.

Iceberg Capt. Smith? What iceberg?