Cars and Parts Springfield Swap Meet
Carroll Commencement
Fairborn commencement
Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > February > 10 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: How much does Limbaugh scare Boehner and McConnell?
Rush Limbaugh does not think much of the leadership being provided the Republican Party by the Ohio Valley.
Limbaugh says President Barack Obama is “obviously more frightened of me than he is (of) Mitch McConnell. He’s more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn’t say much about our party.”
Kentuckian McConnell is the party leader in the Senate. Boehner — from the suburbs between Cincinnati and Dayton, with a district stretching into Dayton — leads the party in the House.
What Limbaugh thinks is worth pausing over these days, given that, after all, the president brought him up. Obama had told congressional Republicans, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.”
Obama took some flak for lowering himself to take on an over-the-top talk show host, and, thereby, promoting him. But the president was confronting, in a remarkably honest way, what might be his biggest problem in trying to foster the bipartisanship he talks about:
There’s a divisiveness industry in this country. Talented people polarize for profit, and get rich. That Rush Limbaugh will demonize any Democratic president is a given, a matter of business.
Some Democrats have suggested that Obama is naive in his hopes for bipartisanship. Maybe. But he’s not so naive as to believe that there’s any point in reaching out to the Limbaughs of the world, the political warmongers. All he could do was suggest to the Republicans that they not be guided by them.
Good luck even on that. One very conservative legislator, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., made the mistake of coming to the defense of McConnell and Boehner against Limbaugh. He said, “It’s easy, if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich, to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows, and … you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base.”
The result of those comments was a deluge of phone calls from Limbaugh listeners. The result of that was a Gingrey apology. “I regret those stupid comments,” he said. He made sure that everybody understood that he listens to Limbaugh all the time, cherishes him and agrees with him.
And yet, the “stupid comments” were the simple, obvious truth. Now Gingrey’s constituents know they should never expect him to go there again.
Some people try to tell you that Limbaugh is just an entertainer, just fun, that listeners don’t take him seriously. Those people ought to see the mail of anybody who crosses Limbaugh, in the media or otherwise. The truth is a lot of politicians are afraid of him. That’s power.
The notion that he is somehow the most important Republican now — as he portrays himself — is a Democratic dream. It might mean the death of bipartisanship, but, given the limits of his appeal, there might be so few Republicans it wouldn’t matter.
Anybody who reads these pages knows that Obama is taking a lot of flak from people on the left who see the whole bipartisanship schtick as a bad idea, people like Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert. They point to lockstep Republican opposition to a stimulus bill that the Republicans considered too big but was probably too small all along.
The truth, though, is that this was the wrong issue on which to expect bipartisanship. Obama decided at some point between the election and the inauguration that he needed to be bold. His talks with economists (left and right, he says) convinced him that the package had to be about $800 billion to make a real difference.
That was the end of prospects for much Republican support. The bill wraps together everything that Republicans complain about in public spending. Sure, they have risen above their anti-spending rhetoric in the past, but typically in supporting Republican presidents, not Democrats.
A vote for this bill threatened great troubles for Republicans with their famously conservative, famously partisan base.
It’s a shame this issue had to come first on Obama’s watch. It brought the likes of Limbaugh to the fore. It put people on guard. It seemed to confirm the caricature of Obama that the conservatives promoted during the campaign.
But there’ll be plenty of other issues on which the differences between the parties are at least a little blurrier.
If McConnell and Boehner have not proceeded as if their job is to “scare” Obama, that’s a good thing. The question now is how scared are they.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics, National Politics
Tweet
Comments
By Raoul
February 10, 2009 6:10 PM | Link to this
Martin, it’ always fun to read your views about Rush Limbaugh. He really gets to you doesn’t he? He must be getting to President Obama as well. Might he be the one scared of united Republicans? Regarding Herbert and Krugman, do you see that when it comes to divisiveness you could hardly pick 2 more fitting candidates? Herbert is wracked with racial issues that he won’t or can’t let go. Krugman won a Nobel Prize for hating George Bush, and began writing of Bush’s ‘failed policies’ while he was being sworn into office in 2001. Krugman is a wordly economist all right, and so was Karl Marx. You write as if the Republicans should just shut up and go away. Trust me, they aren’t.
By kurt
February 11, 2009 7:31 AM | Link to this
Rush Limbaugh is a bag of hot air.You’ll never hear him agreeing with others—others must agree with him.Rush is about me me me.
By Frank Gilbert
February 11, 2009 10:45 AM | Link to this
I think that we as members of the cons. party want our leaders in Washington to return to their cons. roots rather than play get along with the party of the left. Rush (and others) address that issue point blank and Americans are responding to it. Rush is as much an entertainer as he is a teacher. And like all teachers, he should be listened to but not blindly followed. Nor should he be rejected out of hand just because he is a member of the cons. party.
By Philman
February 11, 2009 4:19 PM | Link to this
The real question is how scared is Martin Gottlieb and the rest of his Liberal pals at the DDN, they don’t like us getting the whole story , only there spin, they will run cover for the Democrats while they try to shut down concervitive radio,thats why I go to www.worldnetdaily.com every day will you pathetic liberals try to shut down concervitve internet also. how about it marty…
By Martin Gottlieb
February 11, 2009 5:32 PM | Link to this
I couldn’t possibly be less interested in shutting down anybody. The alarm that talk radio has raised about this possibility is, like so much from talk radio, almost entirely bogus.
By Jackie
February 11, 2009 9:26 PM | Link to this
We have big problems and it’s not a Democrat/Republican/Indepent problems it’s an American Problem. Rush does what he does for attention. Law Makers gave the vote that is needed to help their citizens. Republicans don’t see a problem with the Economy or with the hardship of there areas. I watched a woman from Florida say she lived in a car as a Florida Law Maker reached out to help. He didn’t ask what Party this woman belong to he and his wife just wanted to help a fellow American in need. We know most of the Republicans will vote against the Stimulus Bill. But the Bill will pass and the citizens of Ohio will get their taxpayers money to help recover this hardship. As more people in Ohio find jobs and get back on their feet then people can go back to attacking each other. But for now we’re in this Recession together and we will get out of it together. All we needed was a President that worked and listen to the American people and now we have one.
By ccys
February 12, 2009 2:17 PM | Link to this
Limbaugh often harms our country, he doesn’t really care about it. Case in point: the day after the November election, he told his millions of listeners to get their money out of the US while they could, and said that’s what he would be doing. What could be more harmful to the US economy, then or now? And his claim is baseless. Foreign investments have not been performing any higher than US ones in this market.
By guide in Russia
December 4, 2010 2:03 AM | Link to this
Ho cercato sul web cercando di trovare idee su come ottenere il mio sito blog personale codificati, il tuo stile attuale e il tema sono meravigliosi. Hai il codice che la vostra auto o hai assumere un programmatore per farlo fare per lei personalmente?
By guides in St.Petersburg
December 4, 2010 5:08 AM | Link to this
Grazie per le informazioni di grande! Non avrei scoperto questo altrimenti!
By all web promotion
December 17, 2010 12:52 AM | Link to this
Molto buone cose.
By Kenmore repair los angeles
March 10, 2011 10:44 AM | Link to this
Recentemente ho trovato il vostro blog e hanno letto insieme. Ho pensato di lasciare il mio primo commento. Non so cosa dire se non che mi sono goduto la lettura. bel blog.
By appliance repair Laguna Beach
May 2, 2011 12:20 PM | Link to this
Hey molto bel blog! L’uomo .. Bella .. Incredibile .. I bookmark il tuo blog e prendere il feed anche …