Did you see the clip of Rush Limbaugh last week saying that he wants President Obama “to fail?“
If not, here it is:
I thought about blogging about this when it happened, but for whatever reason, I just didn’t get around to it. I was going to say that Limbaugh’s point, when taken in context, isn’t at all objectionable: He’s couching his “hope” for Obama’s failure in terms of the political differences he has with the new president. Obama is sweeping into office with a tremendous emphasis on the federal government and what it can do, as opposed to states and what powers they should have. In addition, Limbaugh says, as a capitalist, he is never in favor of policies that would redistribute wealth, and since he views Obama’s economic policies as doing just that, he hopes they fail, too.
Here’s the problem, though: Most folks just hear the “I hope he fails” part. They don’t hear the explanation, and most of them wouldn’t care to hear it, anyway.
Sure, you can say that it’s their ignorance and their refusal to get the whole story that is the genesis of some of their opposition to the GOP. They don’t support Republican policies, GOPers say, because they don’t listen to them long enough to understand them.
And there’s probably some truth to that.
But opposition is opposition, and for thousands of downballot Republican candidates for state and local offices all over the country, that makes Limbaugh a big problem. They are saddled with his poor messaging, and they pay an ugly price with voters at the polls for Limbaugh’s one-liners.
I was quickened to this story by the most recent offering from GOP consultant Rich Galen. His current column, “How do you solve a problem like Obama?“, lays out a simple but effective plan for the GOP to find its way back in time for midterms next year: Find the chink in the political armor of the seemingly invincible president, Galen says, and exploit it. The president will suffer political wounds that will eventually make him vulnerable to being lumped in with congressional Democrats, who lead a Congress with some of the lowest approval ratings in history.
Sounds like a good plan.
But curiously missing from Galen’s otherwise ingenious scheme is any mention of an overall theme that will drive Republicans’ opposition to Obama’s agenda. His plan is a tactical one; the points where the GOP will make its stand against the new president are regarded as an afterthought, at best, and inconsequential, at worst.
What message does this send to one in four Americans—the conservative Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans—who are looking for someone, anyone, to stand up and provide an alternative to the Obama agenda?
On one hand, they’re hearing, “I hope he fails.“ On the other, they’re hearing, “It doesn’t matter where we win, as long as we win.“
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is a busy guy today.
No, it’s not with his impeachment trial, which begins in the State Senate this morning. He’s ignoring it, you see, because he says it’s unfair. “The fix is in,“ he said, with not the least bit of irony.
(Actually, he also says that the impeachment proceedings are part of a nefarious plot by the Illinois State Legislature to raise taxes, but that’s a crazy story all its own.)
Blago is on a media blitz, making the rounds on TV to defend himself against corruption charges and federal prosecutors’ allegations—among other things, that he tried to “sell” Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder.
And if you’ve ever seen this guy in front of a microphone, you know that anything can happen.
This morning, he told “Good Morning America” that he considered Oprah Winfrey for Obama’s Senate seat. (Well, at least she couldn’t be bought.) Last week, he drew comparisons between the day of his arrest to Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese executed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and killed thousands of Americans.
He’s on “The View” right now, and he just told Barbara Walters that resigning from office would be the worst thing he could do; you see, he said, he doesn’t want to disgrace his two young daughters.
See? Anything can come out of his mouth ... literally, anything.
Think his propensity for verbosity might have had anything to do with why his high-powered defense lawyer quit last week?
So, if you’re not doing anything else tonight, tune in to CNN for “Larry King Live,“ when Blagojevich and his now-unemployed wife will again find themselves behind microphones.
It ought to at least be good entertainment.
See also:
More fun with Blago: Click here for a roundup of the gabby governor’s notable quotes.
Despite the breathless headline, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs earned solid marks in his debut in front of the raucous Press Corps yesterday.
I watched the briefing, and it’s true that Gibbs had a rocky time with some of the questions. But this is typical—not only for a new press secretary, but also for a new president. The administration has made some sketchy decisions in its first days that have made and will continue to make Gibbs’s job harder than it should be, at least for the time being. But Gibbs maintained his cool, didn’t panic and kept an even hand on the progress of the briefing.
The story linked above gives some examples of where Gibbs struggled, but if you read through to the second page, it’s clear that the Press Corps came away from the first briefing with a favorable impression of the new information manager. The story notes Gibbs’s persistent smile and good humor, even as things got tough:
Still, throughout the day’s session, Mr. Gibbs was in control—affable, smiling often, answering questions in a slow, measured, slightly Southern drawl, joking with reporters who had covered Mr. Obama on the campaign trail. But he made clear who he works for: Over and over, he began his answers with “the president believes” and at least once said, “I just want to reiterate what the president said throughout the campaign and the transition.“
That’s the key.
The press can push, and even push hard, but if you don’t have the answer, you don’t let them goad you into saying something just to fill the air. This is the key to being WHPS, and Gibbs seems to have already mastered it.
There will be continued headaches, of course, and the president can help by not showing up in the White House Press Room with the inexplicable expectation that he won’t be asked some questions by folks whose job it is to ask questions.
The bottom line is that the Obama Administration, and the president himself, are still getting their legs under them with this whole running-the-country thing. There are going to be growing pains. But as everyone settles in and comes to an understanding of everyone else’s roles and responsibilities, things will get better for Robert Gibbs.
Partially due to his experience, but mostly due to his unwavering faith and belief in and commitment to his boss, I think he’s going to be a great WHPS.
Putting an ugly wrap on what was doubtlessly one of the most bungled opportunities in modern political history, Caroline Kennedy officially withdrew her name from consideration to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate late Wednesday.
Kennedy’s rivals had opened the door for all the action this week by whispering to reporters at The New York Post that the fix was in: Kennedy was going to be Paterson’s pick, and they never had a chance.
It’s helpful at this point to recall how Paterson found himself in the governor’s office: He succeeded former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after being caught up in a prostitution scandal last year. Paterson has had an uneven performance as governor, and his re-election campaign—the first time he’ll stand before New Yorkers in a contest to lead their state—is shaping up to be an uphill fight.
This brings us back to the article.
Paterson couldn’t not pick Kennedy, her rivals said; his race is going to be tough enough, and he’s going to need a lot of fundraising help.
The Kennedys can certainly help with that.
Now, when you look at this from the Blagojevich perspective, it sure sounds like pay-to-play. We can probably assume that Kennedy’s jealous rivals didn’t do much to endear themselves to the governor’s good favor by speaking anonymously to the Post and basically accusing him of striking a deal for dough.
The irony of all this is that as it turns out, if you believe the governor’s people (who are also courageously speaking anonymously to the press), it’s Kennedy who never had a chance. The governor never intended to pick her, given her poor performance once she finally stepped into the public eye.
But that’s another issue entirely.
The anonymous fight between Paterson’s and Kennedy’s advisers has since devolved into a nasty back-and-forth in the press. I’m betting the people of New York are sick of hearing about it—and they’re wishing that the journalists who continue to allow themselves to be used as pawns by writing anonymously sourced stories would finally demand some accountability in their work.
Observers objected to the tight seal that was kept on Paterson’s deliberations throughout the time that Kennedy was in the mix. Is it coincidence that the governor’s people—or the governor himself—have suddenly become so careless with his deliberations?
I said when Kennedy made official her interest in the seat that the governor would be hard-pressed to find a replacement for Clinton that would be a better fit than Kennedy. It didn’t bother me that she didn’t have any political experience; as I said then, that might actually be to her credit. She might have lacked direct personal experience, but her lifetime of exposure to the process and her access to other lawmakers forged through a lifetime of relationship-building should have brought New Yorkers the best of both worlds in the Senate.
Unfortunately, Kennedy proceeded to commit gaffe after gaffe, making herself look completely incompetent—which I’m sure she is not—in the process.
I can only blame this on extraordinary disorganization among her handlers, aides and advisers. How someone named Kennedy who is the only surviving daughter of one of this nation’s most beloved presidents can bungle an opportunity like this is beyond me. It’s actually really remarkable.
If she really wants the seat, I suggest that Kennedy take a figurative hachet to her existing staff, regroup, reload and run for the seat next year. Doing so would serve as evidence in itself that she is not afraid to face voters for the seat and also perfectly willing to work hard for it.
That brings us to Gillibrand.
Talk about your surprise picks: Gillibrand is a Blug Dog Democrat. First of all, I didn’t realize there were any of those north of the Mason-Dixon line. Secondly, she’s not a spotlight hog, like so many of the near-narcissists who sought the seat (Cuomo, Maloney, etc.). Third, she’s from upstate—a welcome change for New Yorkers who want to remind the rest of the country that there is more to the state than the city.
I said Paterson would be hard-pressed to find a better fit for the Senate opportunity than Kennedy.
But he did.
Gillibrand is going to do a steady, solid job for the folks of the Empire State. Oh, she’ll have her doubters, sure, but she’ll probably be able to stave off any serious primary challenge next year.
The question then becomes who the Republicans find to challenge a pro-Second Amendment senator mom from upstate New York.
Fox News has this report on President Obama’s deal to keep his BlackBerry. We don’t have many details, but we can be sure of one thing: The president has gotten something much cooler, much smaller and much more advanced than what my sister would derisively call a “Zach Morris phone.“
Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic was first to break this story. What details we do have about the technology of the deal, he provides here.
