TIME Blaming The White House For The Limbaugh Flap?

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_03/017144.php

BLAMING THE WHITE HOUSE FOR THE LIMBAUGH FLAP?.... Time's Michael Scherer has a provocative piece today, arguing that the White House is not only wrong to criticize Rush Limbaugh, it's also largely responsible for the recent controversy surrounding the right-wing radio host.

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. :eyes:

I think Scherer's mistaken for a few reasons here. First, it's true that President Obama hopes to elevate the discourse, but I don't think the Limbaugh discussion is evidence to the contrary. Indeed, while the White House has an interest in undermining the president's critics, Obama and his aides have invested very little energy into this.

Second, it's also true that Limbaugh has been a major topic of conversation, but Scherer pointing the finger at the president doesn't make sense. Obama doesn't decide what becomes cable fodder, has nothing to do with the remarks uttered at CPAC, and he certainly doesn't dictate the intra-party disputes among conservative Republicans. (If the president orchestrated the Steele-Rush back and forth, Obama is far more talented than I give him credit for.)

Third, Scherer points to a Politico article as proof that the broader Limbaugh story has been "cooked up" by "Obama's advisors." I read the Politico article, and found that the initiative to make Limbaugh the face of the GOP has been driven by Paul Begala, James Carville, Stan Greenberg, and officials in the DCCC -- none of whom is an advisor to Obama.

Reasonable people can disagree about the strategy of making Limbaugh the de facto leader of the Republican Party. I happen to think it's a good idea; your mileage may vary. Either way, I don't see why the larger controversy is President Obama's fault. He didn't push GOP officials to apologize to Limbaugh; he didn't encourage Limbaugh to hope for failure; he didn't vet Limbaugh's CPAC speech; and he's certainly not keeping the story alive by arranging for the RNC chairman to go on the "Today" show to talk about it some more.

Obama, as far as I can tell, is focused heavily on policy matters right now. Are some of his aides thinking about political considerations and taunting Limbaugh? Maybe a little, but the White House isn't driving this controversy. If we're looking for someone to blame, I'd recommend Limbaugh (who's loving the attention and promotion) and Republicans (who can't figure out what to do with Limbaugh's influence over the party's base).

And for good measure, there's the media itself, which seems to be enjoying this, with or without cues from anybody else.

-Steve Benen

[underpants]

1. Obama drew them out of their gameplan but setting up Rush for them to exult

brilliant

[madrchsod]

2. did i read that correctly....politico is cooking up a story?

oh say it is`t so.....:rofl:

OOPS!

[BOSSHOG]

3. I fail to see a "controversy."

[depakid]

4. Yep- Paul Begala, James Carville, Stan Greenberg, and officials in the DCCC twisted arms

and MADE him keynote speaker at CPAC.

That said, the only other choice is to re-regulate the corporate media- which will both take time (and which would be undercut by cowardly and irresposible Democrats in Congress).

[Frustratedlady]

5. What's Obama done? He's working on the Stimulus pkg., and the media is

responsible for blowing this out of proportion.

What would Rush do if everyone...and, I do mean everyone...quit talking about him? He'd go nuts. He loves this attention.

For your information, Rush, there's a huge mess left for Obama to clean up by that pile of poop you sent us for the last 8 years. Let Obama do his job and get off his case. You don't even come close to his level.

You are disgusting.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. Trying to deflect blame for the GOP's own problems.

They've made a mess of the country and their party. So now what? Do they expect Obama to not only fix the world economy but fix the GOP's problems as well?

[babylonsister]

8. I don't understand why TIME takes anything politico has to say with

anything but a grain of salt. They goofed on this one.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I think the Obama Administration has played the GOP idiots like a violin.

[ErinBerin84]

9. force fed to the American public?!

lOL...First of all, I really doubt that the Obama white house is putting this much energy into it, even if Rahm did "bring it up" on Sunday. Christ, the media went NUTS when Obama mentioned in a private meeting that Republicans can't "just" listen to Rush and get things done. It was all "Oh my god, HOW DARE HE bring up RUSH? This is a mistake!" The media has been covering Rush A LOT this year. I mean, did we really need to know that he said Colin Powell's "endorsement" was "all about race" or about his "grab the ankles, bend over" comments? I just don't buy into the theory that Obama gives him more publicity, the media has seemed more than willing to cover Rush on their own for some reason, while Republicans have never had to answer for the disgusting things he has said.

[get the red out]

10. Shining the light

on the reality of hate radio and the control it has on the Republican Party is DEFINITELY a change. These guys used to be untouchable. The media was forced to take idiots like Limbaugh seriously. They had to bow and scrape to the Republicans at every turn. They need to get their hostage pants off and their free speech pants back on! The current administration is putting Limbaugh and his "dittoheads" in the proper context at last, and the news media can't rescue the Republican line this time. These people are dangerous fools that would take all our freedoms in a heart-beat. How about those memos coming out? Does that shit come out of a vacuum? NO, it comes from what these slobbering talk radio listeners are willing to elect people to do. They don't believe in democracy.

This is change I have wanted for a long time. They fear the fairness doctrine while Obama makes them look like such fools that they help truth and democracy by exposing their sickening hatred and conspiracy theory over the air-waves every day.

And Limbaugh can't shut up, so they dig in more and more......