Limbaugh was cheered on when he gave an inflammatory speech at CPAC, and his comments about hoping the Obama administration would fail have now become legendary. On a recent edition of Face the Nation, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel declared him, “The voice and intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.”
If that were true, it could be very bad news for a Republican party which is already losing credibility. Recent polls have shown that only about 1 in every 3 Americans has a positive view of Limbaugh, which gives him an approval rating just higher than that of President Bush when he left office.
A Conservative's Lament
David Frum, a Wall Street Journal columnist and former speech writer for Bush recently published an editorial in Newsweek, lamenting Rush’s status as de facto party leader. He contrasted Limbaugh with the newly elected Barack Obama, pointing out Obama’s image as a family man and devoted father, a man who is in peak physical shape and often invokes the suffering of the middle and working class in his speeches. Frum compared this with Limbaugh’s life story, one that includes three divorces, a history of drug dependency, and his tendency to dismiss anyone who is complaining about economic conditions as a ‘loser.’
There was one thing he didn’t mention. Obama at least appears to be willing to go across the isle and work with Republicans, something for which he could potentially score points with independents and younger, more moderate Republicans in the 2012 presidential election. Limbaugh, however, is about as partisan as they come.
Frum doesn’t want Limbaugh to become the new face of the Republican Party, as he is possibly the most polarizing figure in the neo-conservative movement, and seems to be completely ambivalent about the consequences of his actions.
What other Conservatives Think
Whether Frum likes it or not, Rush is becoming an indispensible figure in conservative politics. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called him an ‘entertainer,’ someone more concerned with ratings than doing what is right for the country. Days later he gave a heart-felt apology. And days ago Rich Lowry, editor of the Conservative National Review tried to make Limbaugh’s now famous comments about wanting the president to fail sound a little more mainstream.
“Rush wants Obama to fail in implementing his agenda,” Lowry told CBS last week. “And he thinks that is what’s good for the country.”
Rush Limbaugh does Fill a Void
The loss of the November presidential election left the Republican Party without central leadership. Bush has been returned to his Texas home in disgrace, John McCain was succeeded by Sarah Palin as the most visible republican figure, and she has more or less disappeared into the woodwork, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, whom many pundits are predicting could run for president, hasn’t had much to say since his disastrous repudiation of the president’s stimulus plan.
Rush seems to be willing to step up to the plate in absence of a clear leader, and Democrats are more than willing to let him do it. Articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor have declared younger republicans to be increasingly becoming more moderate and more accepting of bipartisan politics, and more and more disillusioned with the politics of their older counterparts. Many pundits have pointed out that Limbaugh's antics might be alienating independents, but so far there has been little talk about how younger, more moderate Republicans see him.
The absence of Bush has created problems for both parties. Republicans need a figurehead, and Democrats need a demon with which they can associate all other conservatives, and Limbaugh seems to fill both needs. With an intelligent, articulate and accepting figure at the head of their own party, Democrats are all too willing to let a crass, stubborn, unapologetic, sexist, possibly racist and often self-destructive man become the symbol of their opposition. Some may love him, and others may hate him, but it's doubtful that he will be going away any time soon.
