[img]1|left|||no_popup[/img] I have a hunch that when future history texts attempt to bracket former Presidents, there will be this line:
Lincoln freed the slaves, and Obama freed the racists.
Perhaps chief among the blockbuster changes that have galloped across this land like a pack of untamable horses in the last 6 weeks is a sudden spike in the racial/temper temperature.
Slyly, calculatedly, the choir of unswervingly loyal Barack Obama acolytes in the media has announced two lifestyle changes, declaring the immediate imposition of two cultural phenomena.
• Criticism of President Obama invariably carries racial overtones, and therefore it has been stopped in its tracks in all public forms.
• Republicans and other conservatives, found to be even more vile than imagined during the late Bush administration, are to be demonized without restraint.
Staring with the second point, for the last 5 days, a radio guy, Rush Limbaugh, has been the most talked-about person in America because the White House says it is mad at him.
It is as if Mr. Obama, vigilante-style, had been standing in the doorway of the White House. Upon a pre-arranged signal, from the President, a nationwide flood of previously unimaginable vulgar criticism has rained down on the very talented pate of Mr. Limbaugh.
The radio guy is trying to hide his gratitude so the President will not catch on.
A Winner and a Loser
Like a terminally annoyed dog chasing a pesky, much swifter cat, the rabbit-eared Mr. Obama, just 42 days in office, chases his detested publicity-rival in ever narrowing circles.
He has been in sizzling pursuit of Mr. Limbaugh almost longer than he has been demonizing the wealthy.
Liberals always have to have an enemy, you know.
Even though Mr. Limbaugh is, shall we say, hefty, and Mr. Obama is lithe, the President cannot catch him. Amused to the gills, Mr. Limbaugh’s fans rock back in their cushy chairs and chuckle over the fruitless chase by the President.
Unless Mr. Obama gives up, Mr. Limbaugh, his claims to the contrary, may have to vote for Mr. Obama in ’12 so that, without any input from himself, his popularity just keeps mushrooming.
Presidents certainly have been mad at journalists, in recent and distant times — but the rabbit-eared Mr. Obama seems to see Mr. Limbaugh’s face in the center of his watch whenever he checks the time.
Not even the oldest hag in Washington, the very wrinkled Helen Thomas of the Associated Press, has seen such an abandonment of dignity by the White House.
Hit Me Again, Harder, Harder
This silly chase has been what an entertainer/thinker usually only dreams about. Affluent as Mr. Limbaugh is, he could not afford to pay the tab for the rich, engulfing waves of publicity that have been dictated by the President. Starting last weekend with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, White House operatives are under orders to pick at Mr. Limbaugh, like a scab, until further notice.
Mr. Limbaugh is the most successful personality in the history of radio. The only American with a larger daily following is Mr. Obama, and darned if No.1, who practically goes crazy when criticized, hasn’t presented No. 2 with the gift of a lifetime, oceans of attention in the media.
The gift comes with a slight downside. The dippiest personalities in the print and electronic media get to call you worse names than they ever pinned on President Bush.
Wouldn’t you put up with this hiccup in exchange for being the national center of media obsession for awhile?
Like a wheezing puppy, the media will run out of steam soon and move on to a new (conservative) target.
Vulgarity Back in Fashion
A fascinating corollary to this juvenile behavior has been the equally vulgar denunciation — daily, for a week now — of Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana. Mr. Jindal gave the GOP response to Mr. Obama’s state of the union talk a week ago tonight. As an orator, Mr. Jindal, not surprisingly, fell miles short of Mr. Obama.
You should have heard the Jindal ridicule that started pouring through liberal radio and television networks,
The next morning, and every day since, vicious mockery of Mr. Jindal and his heritage have been ripe pickings for the loudest liberal voices on radio and television.
The two most vulgar personalities on radio are Bill Press, on 1150 AM in the pre-dawn hours, and Mike Malloy, on the same station in the early evenings. You will hear filthy language from the hosts you last heard when you were in the military.
Both Mr. Malloy and Mr. Press have have uncorked humiliating imitations of Mr. Jindal’s Indian background, while berating his supposedly Indian name, and his mannerisms.
You have, however, not heard about this because most of the media regards insulting a conservative fair play..
Criticizing a half-black, half-white President is off-limits to the juvenile journalists because he is a whole liberal. Mocking an Indian-born conservative, a la Sarah Palin, is embraced because he is the political enemy to be demonized.
This should be a stomach-churning ride for the next 4 or 8 years.
