As President Obama makes his way through his first full day on the job, a familiar voice reemerged from the depths of the river Styx, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. For the last eight years, aside from a public pain medication addiction, Mr. Limbaugh and most of the conservative talking heads have been relegated to proving air cover for President Bush. Now, with a new Democrat in the Oval Office, their role is in the process of changing once again: the job of apologist is over and new venom can flow out of their mouths once more.
During the primary, Operation Chaos was Limbaugh’s attempt to derail Obama from winning the Democratic nomination. As always, Limbaugh’s antics were not really designed to hurt the Democrats, rather it was a attempt to put himself back in the spotlight. Here is what I wrote about Limbaugh’s self-promotion strategy back in June:
“If McCain is the weaker candidate because of the reasons listed above let’s take a look at where Limbaugh could benefit from Operation Chaos in the long term. If Obama is elected Limbaugh has a new target in the White House. Limbaugh will be relevant once again as he regains his status as the leader of the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” On a side note, maybe he will even resurrect his failed TV career; probably not.
The bottom line is that Limbaugh does not care if McCain wins in November, in fact, it would be counter-productive to the possibility of revitalizing his career. If Obama wins Limbaugh will have better ratings and earn more money. So, congratulations “ditto heads”, you have achieved Rush’s goal…the only cost to you is victory in November.”
Limbaugh’s statement of “I Hope Obama Fails” clocked in at exactly three days before Obama took the oath of office. My prediction: Obama is well aware of Limbaugh’s ability to manipulate information that will come from his administration. Obama will be able to positively utilize Limbaugh’s flair for theatrics to point the American people away from divisiveness and to get rid of “childish things” such as partisanship for its’ own sake.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.