Team Obama's Petty Limbaugh Strategy
The McCain campaign would much rather have the story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future. . . . We have real problems in this country right now and the American people are looking to us for answers, not distractions, not diversions, not manipulations. -- Barack Obama, Norfolk, Va., September 10, 2008
President Obama won the presidency by promising to be a different, more substantive, less gimmicky leader. He said he would not waste our time on "phony outrage," like fulminations on the meaning of "lipstick on a pig," or silly characters like "Joe The Plumber," a guy who was actually named Samuel and was not even a licensed plumber. No, Obama said he was going to solve problems instead. Now that he is in the White House, he still makes this case, almost every day. On Wednesday morning, during an address about contracting reforms, he referred dismissively to the "chatter on the cable stations."
But what is the chatter on the cable stations? For most of this week, and for much of the last month, it has been about Rush Limbaugh. Hour after hour, daytime pundits are asked a litany of banal Rush questions: Does Rush really run the Republican Party? Why did RNC chair Michael Steele apologize to Rush? What does it mean that Rush addressed conservatives last weekend? As Jonathan Martin makes clear in the Politico today, this entire controversy has been cooked up and force fed to the American people by Obama's advisers.* In other words, it's not the kind of change you can believe in.
First off, let us settle on the facts. The Republican Party is lost and largely leaderless, much as Democrats were in the wake of the 2000 and 2004 elections. Rush Limbaugh, a self described "entertainer," is probably the most famous and popular spokesman for the conservative cause that has long undergirded the GOP. But he no more runs the Republican Party than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie run Hollywood. To put it another way, he is a talented pitchman, a powerful communicator, the Clark Gable of his day. But the producers and directors of the Republican cause still reside in Congress, in fundraising networks and in state executive mansions. And while all of these people are terrified of crossing Rush, their biggest brand name, and will apologize profusely to any perceived slight, they are about as beholden to Limbaugh as MGM's Louis Mayer was beholden to Gable.
So why are we talking about Rush? According to Martin, the Rush "controversy" began as an idea last fall that followed a poll taken by Stanley Greenberg, who owns the house where White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel stays when he is in Washington. With his old Clinton Administration colleagues, Paul Begala and James Carville, Greenberg realized that Limbaugh was deeply unpopular among wide swaths of the American electorate. So, the strategists figured, why not turn the turn Republican Party into a Limbaughesque caricature? Limbaugh, a consummate publicity hound, was only too eager to help. Earlier this year, he said he hoped Obama "fails," a reasonable claim in context, given that Limbaugh's entire worldview is constructed around an opposition to the sorts of policies that Obama has proposed.
But echoed over the "chatter on the cable stations" thanks to Obama aides, including Emanuel and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, Limbaugh's comment took on a whiff of treason. Limbaugh's rapid comebacks to the White House assault created what economists might call a "downward spiral" effect. “It's great for us, great for him, great for the press,” Carville told the Politico, describing the White House and Limbaugh. “The only people he's not good for are the actual Republicans in Congress.”
But here's the rub: If you believed what Obama said during the campaign, then Carville is dead wrong. Republicans in Congress are not the only losers. The American people also lose. At a time of unprecedented threats to the United States, a time of financial collapse, bank failures and record layoffs, at a time when the credit crisis has not been solved, and the stock market is in free fall, at a time of stagnating wars, rising terrorism in Pakistan and growing nuclear potential in Iran, the White House has done the easy thing. It has asked the American people to focus their attention not on solving the problems, but on a big-mouthed entertainer in Florida. This may be smart politics. But it is also the same petty strategy that John McCain employed during the presidential campaign, the one that our new president promised to rise above.
UPDATE: Don't miss David Von Drehle's take on the White House/Limbaugh noise.
* By advisers here I am including the outside Democratic strategists and supporters discussed above who have influenced the White House line on Limbaugh.
ALSO: As Sam Stein points out, Gibbs said today, in a light tone, that he will "plead guilty to being counterproductive" by feeding the cable news beast. Of course, in saying that, he only further fed the beast.
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1
Limbaugh, a consumant publicity hound, was only too eager to help. Earlier this year, he said he hoped Obama "fails," a reasonable claim in context, given that Limbaugh's entire worldview is constructed around an opposition to the sorts of policies that Obama has proposed.
First off: there is nothing reasonble about Limbaugh's statment in context or out of context. That is why this is resonating so deeply. Apparently, he can not handle the simple idea that another world view might work and instead of that happening and people getting better lives and this great recession possible depression ending he wants the world to collapse.
It's outrageous.
Secondly, this is basically the Republican party imploding. The Democrats and the White House have only prodded a couple of points and BOOM.
Third: the White House has not been spending all it's time on Limbaugh. It's been dealing with the issues. That's probably why Obama's ratings are high.
The simple fact is that Limbaugh made a crass and crappy statement that GOPers are afraid to call him out for b/c he has 20 million Republican listeners. In not doing so; they alienate independents and moderates.
This has been excellent. Bring Limbaugh and Right Wing Talk Radio into the sunlight because clearly; it withers and dies as people become horrified.
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2
Scherer
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I sincerely mean this, BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!
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You haven't done even a single story about all the lying the Republicans did about President Obama's stimulus bill and continue to do. You just sat there with your pen stuck up your arse waiting on a good Republican talking point. The President didn't pick this fight, please remember that it was Rush Limbaugh who came out praying for failure. Bigger than that, half of the Republican lies flying around Washington are predicated on snippets from Rush's show. Where do you think the term "porkulus" came from? Where do you think the lie about health IT in the stimulus bill came from? But you and your fellow Drudgites look the other way while that sh*t happens then have the nerve to come on here like the sanctimonious sack of sh*t you really are and lecture the White House? Give me a frikkin break. You want to know how to solve this problem? Tell your GOP buddies to grow some balls and oppose Rush Limbaugh without grovelling to him the next day. Then the story goes away. Until that happens you can get bent. Your party is going to get their ass handed to them next year all because of their dear leader Rush and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. President Obama never promised to be a shrinking violet and he for damn sure attacked Senator McCain during the campaign. Remember the Keating 5 website? The American people are seeing who really runs the GOP and thats a major win for all of us. -
3
Dear Scherer:
GIVE ME A BREAK.
The White House has spent a total of maybe 20 minutes on Rush in the last week. The Republicans are the ones causing their own meltdown. It's nice to see your new beat has not lifted the fog from your GOP loving-brain.
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4
greenlyfe, I don't see anything wrong with saying you do not want any political leader to succeed in his policy goals. It happens all the time, and is the basis of a free democracy.
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For the full context of Limbaughs remarks, see here:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011609/content/01125113.guest.html -
5
Also, when McCain spent the last 2 or 3 months of the campaign on those distractions, his polling numbers plummeted. Yet Obama's are at an all-time high. How do you explain that? Oh right, YOU CAN'T. Because that's not what's happening.
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6
Ouch! I guess the Democrats are doing something right for you to holler FIRE!!
The truth that Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party is not only spot on, but proven every day by the apologies by prominent Repubs who cross him. Sort of a Godfather type thing. "Sorry Oh Godfather I have disappointed you." Limbaugh owns the so called producers and directors of the Republican cause. And you know it. Obviously now you have gotten the message to try and tamp down the reality that Rush owns the party. Did you kiss Rush's ring on the way out of the meeting or his AZZZ. -
7
Right Scherer, especially when President Obama's economic policy goals are to repair the economy for the short term and the future. I mean who would want him to do some silly sh*t like that.
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What. A. Dumb. Ass. -
8
Shorter version for those with better things to do than read this:
Scherer is very Concerned.
*
What a tiresome waste of time and pixels.
*
And it's "Gable". -
9
Interesting comparison, although Gable supported the New Deal and Rush is a big fat idiot.
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10
Thanks for pointing out the double standards set by the MSM, Michael. So much for the democrats responding to "phone outrage". So much for not hiring lobbyists into your administration for fear of conflict of interest. So much for most all of Obama's pledges made during the campaign, with the exception of funding for ACORN and Planned Parenthood's abortion campaign rebirth.
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No our dear leader and his horde of cohorts are demonstrating an agenda of "more of the same" instead of "change we can believe in". I like Rush Limbaugh do hope that Obama's plan for economic recovery does implode upon itself. I hope it gets so bad that we witness the 2nd American Revolution. I was thinking it would take Obama at least 6 months to a year to go down in flames. He is even beating my expectations. -
11
What a load of CRAP. Rush "butt boy" Limbaugh is completely fair game for anybody.
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12
Gosh, it sure is dastardly of those Obama people to point out in a press conference that the opposition party is beholden to an unpopular, ignorant entertainer.
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Brangelina don't hector the Democratic Party on the radio every day. Rush is an entertainer, and he controls the GOP's agenda. There's no comparison. You can't prove otherwise, so you use nonsensical analogies instead.
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The GOP is in a death spiral, unable to dig out from its rabid base, having murdered anything resembling conservatism in the Republican Party. That is the story here. Not that someone pointed it out to you. -
13
Jeeze Michael you just did a whole post about how all of the threats to the United States are so important that we can not divert our attention to the problems and then you say it's perfectly fine to advocate failure and then declare it the basis of a free democracy. Freedom of speech is the basis of a free democracy, trying to destroy the democracy for the sake of your party's goals is treason! Everything you wrote about in this post just got undone by your 11:45 comments. You have no ethics!
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14
Oops, that would be "phony outrage".
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15
And yet it is impossible to ignore the fact that in recent months whenever a Republican has had the nerve to criticize Rush they have been beaten over the head by their fellow Repubs until they collapse in a quivering mess and go crawling back to Rush. To lick his shoes and beg forgiveness for disagreeing with the almighty one.
All the Democrats have done is point that out.
Personally I am waiting for Rush to have an Imus moment and finally get his comeuppance.
When a Republican finally calls Rush out on one of his BS statements and refuses to back down, you will know who the next leader of the Republican party is. -
16
Scherer's such a jackass...
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17
If you mean to suggest that the President dreamed this up and is pulling the strings, I sincerely hope you are wrong. I suspect that he has a few other things on his mind.
If you feel sorry for the Republicans, then I suggest that you are being silly -- if the Republicans are so silly as to let Carville et al get under their skins, then they probably need to get out of the political gene pool.
If you feel sorry for the American public, then you haven't been listening to the hateful drivel that Mr. Limbaugh has been shoveling into the ears of millions of Americans -- for decades. Anything that gets this abuser of the basic principles of civility off the air and out of peoples' heads is a blessing. I say this not because he's "conservative" but because he's the kind of nasty person whose mouth has needed a good scrubbing for years.
So, my suggestion is this: take a deep breath, get a grip, and go do some reporting.
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18
Michael, you're just off base. The remaining Republicans in the House & Senate have tacked hard right. Limbaugh speaks many of their credos vigorously. He is their mouthpiece. He represents what the Republican party is becoming. If you want an unfiltered, unvarnished view of what the current opposition leadership is thinking, and what their ideas are, Rush is your man. I know it's sickening & hard to believe. But it's becoming clearer every day, he is the face & voice of the conservative movement of 2009. Pointing this out vividly helps make the remaining shaky moderate Republicans look long & hard at what their party currently looks like. It will force them to make a choice about their personal views, and what they think is best for the country. It's one thing to be loyal to a party with ideas. It's another thing to be blindly beholden to a thuggishly stubborn ideology that still believes the world is in 1960. We need two parties who are able to debate & discuss real ideas. Rush's party is not currently able. This is, and should be, front-page news.
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wow very interesting Michael. First off, petty distractions were an issue during the campaign because that's when the country had to focus on REAL issues so they can choose their next president. Right now, the best thing for the country would be for Obama and his policies to succeed (as opposed to fail). Which means Obama needs a strategy to make sure republicans don't obstruct him the way they did Clinton (thanks to Rush). It is also a PR campaign so the American people give no credence to the republicans who are trying to obstruct. It de-ligitimizes their whole obstruction campaign against the president. I mean, seriously Michael, this politics 101.
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20
SIMPLE SOLUTION: Don't make him the keynote speaker of your movement's flagship event and have every one of your leaders defer to him.
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21
The White House doesn't seem to be volunteering their comments out of the blue -- the MSM are asking them for their opinions and then broadcasting them as news.
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Just FYI, MGM payed Clark Gable $2000 a week to sit on his ass when they didn't have a project ready for him. After he won an Oscar while on loan they upped it to $4000 a week. Sounds pretty damn beholden to me.
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23
Obama tried being nice with the stimulus bill debate, and look what happened.
People in this country are worried about real problems. People don't want people in D.C doing nothing but bickering and solving nothing, but at the same time they don't want policies watered down to the point that republicans might as well be writing the laws.Rush Limbaugh is out there spouting all kinds of nonsense and republicans are defending him, and somehow this is Obama's fault? That's absurd. So what if he's "throwing them some rope" He's not even directly insulting them, just adding a little catalyst to the fire.
Anyway, I wanted a candidate who would kick some ass, and frankly I was never a big fan of this "change the tone" rhetoric. But Obama is smart. He's willing to work with people, but he's willing to fight if things get tough. It's the best of both worlds, and for Obama to unilaterally disarm would be suicide when the country needs bold leadership.
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24
Personally I am waiting for Rush to have an Imus moment
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Waiting? He's already said hundreds of things that are far, FAR worse. But his employers are likely too scared that he might sit on them or eat them or throw Oxycontin bottles at their heads to get rid of him. -
25
Anyone out there want to make a bet, Limbaugh/Palin in 2012? Seems like he not only wants to run the party, but be the head. Of course the Republican Party is now certifiably insane, so that ticket will probably be a reality. Hey Michael maybe Press Secretary?
- michaelscherer Ah.... Richard Wolffe. - 3 hours ago
- michaelscherer AP Fact Checks Obama's speech: http://bit.ly/5OR9ph - 3 hours ago
- michaelscherer RT @AlexKoppelman: "I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again." Obama joining 9/12 Project! - 3 hours ago
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