Rush is Right

That's something I haven't said much in the last few years. I especially didn't say it right before the election when Rush told his audience he had a "gut feeling" that McCain would win.

In fact, Rush Limbaugh has never missed the mark so badly in his entire career than during this presidential campaign. He thought he could help Hillary overcome Obama's big lead and he was wrong. He thought that McCain was a new man after selecting Sarah Palin and he was wrong. He thought Republicans could make gains in the House and Senate and he was wrong. He thought attacking Obama's albeit questionable associations endlessly would be enough to stop his momentum and he was wrong.

However, to his credit, Rush seems to have learned. On today's show he admitted (largely free of sarcasm) that attacking President Obama personally "did not work and will not work" in the future."

I think that's smart. We can talk about Barack largely having the media on his side and that may be true. But it's not what makes Obama so Teflon. What does that is having the same qualities that aided Clinton and Reagan before him. Obama is a gifted communicator. He has an ability to speak before a crowd as if speaking directly to that person's heart. And whether you like the message or not, that ability overcomes a lot of other ugliness that could otherwise get in the way (i.e. Monica Lewinsky, Iran Contra, et al.)

Rush went on to say the Republicans best hope is to attack Obama's ideas.

Once again, he's right. We've yet to see those ideas in action so it's hard to fire a shot yet. But kudos to Rush for saying something I've been saying for a very long time. Now if only Sean Hannity could get past his boner for Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers, perhaps we could actually talk about trade policy, defending our borders, government spending...