White House's "Rush" Trap

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 5, 2009
All Rights Reserved.                    

            President Barack Obama stepped out of line urging Republicans to stop listening the conservative talk show legend Rush Limbaugh, an apparent attempt to encourage more bipartisanship.  “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” Barack told Congressional Republicans Jan. 23, opening up a can of worms.  With so much riding on his recovery plan and new budget to fix the economy, the president could ill-afford a food fight with a private U.S. citizen.  Limbaugh has every right to his views or, for that matter, to lead conservatives or Republicans that like his ideas.  Little did Obama know that his gaffe would set official White House communication strategy, adopted by his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.  Rahm raised Limbaugh Sunday, March 1 on CBS’ “Face The Nation” with Bob Schieffer, crossing a dangerous line

              Someone needs to rein in Barack’s pugnacious chief of staff, now threatening to turn Obama’s ambitious agenda on its head.  Limbaugh was the wrong one to antagonize. Former Clinton political operatives James Carville and Paul Begala think it's amusing to attach the GOP to Rush, especially exploiting the rift between newly minted RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who told CNN’s D.L. Hughley March 2 that Limbaugh was just an “ugly” and “incendiary” entertainer, anointing himself—not Rush—the head of the Party.  Steele fell into Hughley’s trap when he noted that Rush Limbaugh seems to speak for the Party.  Steele took so much flack he was forced to recant March 4, apologizing profusely to Rush.  Rahm insisted on “Face the Nation,” that Rush was the spiritual force behind the Republican Party.  Barack’s remarks and now Emanuel’s have backfired, giving Rush more clout than ever.

            Rahm’s comments on “Face The Nation” are part of a carefully honed strategy to paint the GOP as right wing extremists.  Rush is “the voice and the intellectual force behind the Republican Party,” Emanuel told Schieffer, believing it helped the president’s cause.  No one alive today better articulates Reagan’s brand of conservatism than Rush Limbaugh.  If the GOP has lost its way, Rush puts the Party back on track.  Rahm’s comments capitalize on polls showing Rush a polarizing figure, certainly among Democrats, independents and crossover Republicans.  Whether he’s polarizing or not, he’s the most powerful voice of American conservatism on the public airwaves. Criticizing Rush is doomed to backfire because he’s capable of galvanizing opposition to Barack’s policies, expecially his $787 billion recovery plan and $3.55 trillion budget, key to the Democratic agenda.

            Whether of not it’s OK for Democratic operatives outside the White House choose to use Limbaugh, Emanuel shouldn’t cross the line attacking a private citizen.  Associating Rush with the GOP won’t affect Party loyalists who didn’t vote for Obama on Nov. 4.  With Barack taking heat for his new budget, Rahm thought it would marginalize Republicans, drive more voters from the Party.  Whatever the polls say, picking on Limbaugh makes bipartisanship less likely.  Watching the president’s chief of staff use Rush in a calculated strategy to discredit the Republican Party doesn’t make the best use of White House time.  With so much at stake, using Rush politically highlights the lack of sincerity behind the White House’s effort to deal with more serious domestic and foreign challenges.  Even operatives outside the White House should seriously reconsider their “Rushbo” strategy.

            When political operative Karl Rove worked his magic at the White House, Democrats railed against his Machiavellian tactics.  While Barack’s chief strategist remains behind the curtain, his chief of staff seems way to involved in political gamesmanship.  Barack’s appeal across the political spectrum involved his above-the-fray approach, promising a new kind of politics.  Voters were overdosed with Rove’s subterfuge, manipulating public opinion to support the president’s political agenda.  Rahm’s coordinated efforts with Carville, Begala and nonprofit liberal groups like Americans United for Change crossed the line for a chief of staff, whose activities should confined to running the White House and selling the president’s agenda.  Participating in Operation “Rushbo,” where Democratic operatives seek to join Limbaugh at the hip with the GOP, is counterproductive.

            President Obama should put the kibosh on Operation “Rushbo” before it upends his administration.  He’s gotten off on the wrong foot, needs to reverse course and call off the dogs.  Rahm needs to stop playing political operative and get back to the inglorious job of running the White House.  Picking on Rush or making him part of the White House communication strategy has already backfired.  Gleeful Democratic political operatives have no clue what happens when you awaken a slumbering giant.  Barack needs to show he’s in control of his White House by reining-in Rahm and Gibbs and telling the euphoric group of not-so-covert operatives to back off.  Political agendas are best advanced winning friends, as someone once said, not picking wasteful battles that can only backfire.  There’s no reason to help Rush and conservatives figure out what’s next for the GOP.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analysing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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