Rush Limbaugh has always been quite a character. He is a man who publicly (and proudly) said that he wished Obama "failed" a few days after the President got sworn in. With a radio show that he claims attracts 20 million listeners a week, he has gained a heavy following amongst Conservative Republicans. But his fame has slowly evolved into notoriety lately because of all the mistakes that he seems to be making. With all the biased and even sometimes racist things that he is known for saying, he has slowly evolved into someone, who in my opinion, can be classified as the Bill O'Reilly of the radio circuit.
And now with the Republican party at its worst, the Obama administration pulled a great piece of political strategy to make sure that the Republicans stay down. And what is this great political move? Labeling Rush Limbaugh as the de facto (unofficial) leader of the Republican party. Who better to label as the head of the Republicans than a infamous Conservative with a wide fan base, who is known for having the most unstable personal life (with all the drug addictions and marital problems he faced), and a natural skill of making himself and anyone that supports him look like fools? Even though the Obama administration claims to never take part in underhanded Politics, there has never been a finer move (in my opinion) to suppress the already struggling Republicans.
But what is the outcome of labeling Rush Limbaugh as the de facto leader? First of all, last week, the new head of the Republican National Convention, (and also the first African American leader of the Republicans) Michael Steele came out to publicly deny Rush Limbaugh, claiming his statements are sometimes "incendiary" and "ugly". I personally thought that was a bold move by Steele, even though he retracted his statements a few days later. And while the official Republican heads are being hesitant to publicly deny Limbaugh, the Conservative population in the US are not backing down in denying this "aggressive and bombastic" guy as their leader.
I just finished reading an impressive article by David Frum, a neoconservative journalist, who has made it known that even the Conservatives, let alone the regular Republicans, find the labeling as Limbaugh as their leader to be a disgrace. Even though it was quite a long article, it not only highlights the views that Conservatives share on Limbaugh (which is highly negative), but it also highlights how eager the Republicans are in reviving the US.
Overall, I must hand it to the Democrats for letting Rush get where he is, and letting him continue his sabotage of the Republicans will guarantee a Democrat stronghold for quite a while to come. For the sake of the Republican party (and my support of bipartisanship) I hope the Republicans find another de facto leader, or just accept Michael Steele as their leader.
The David Frum article; http://www.newsweek.com/id/188279/page/1
