The Limbaugh Strawman
First President Barack Obama stroked talk show kingpin Rush Limbaugh's ego by proclaiming him the pied piper of the GOP. Next Republican National Chair Michael Steele showed some moxie and publicly told Limbaugh that he was the shot caller in the GOP. That didn't last. In the next breath, he publicly pleaded for forgiveness from Limbaugh for his momentary pique. Then top Obama advisor Rahm Emanuel jumped in and lathered Limbaugh with praise and scorn as the boss of the GOP. Obama and Emanuel had an ulterior motive. They propped up Limbaugh as their straw man to tar the GOP as an antique, discredited, and obstructionist bunch of sore losers who will stop at nothing to derail Obama's policies. Steele is just simply running scared of Limbaugh.
But in either case, they have done what Limbaugh couldn't do for himself and that's to wildly inflate his importance as the GOP kingmaker. Limbaugh got the kind of promotion that ad companies spend millions on for nothing. But it's still nothing but hot air. Limbaugh hasn't stopped one Obama staff or cabinet appointment, prevented one policy directive, executive order, or a single piece of legislation. That includes Limbaugh's favorite target Obama's economic stimulus bill. Heck, Limbaugh couldn't even stop his arch nemesis, Al Franken, from bagging the Minnesota senate seat. Franken's the guy who outrageously wolf ticketed Limbaugh as the big fat idiot, and then turned the wolfing into a best selling book.
Limbaugh's rambling, long winded, rant at the Conservative Political Action Conference, complete with his confusion over what the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence say, was the topper. The crowd which was heavily white and male, lapped up every Limbaugh inanity. A stroll through the convention hall showed that the crowd's Cloud Nine divorce from political reality was almost laughable. Every anti in America -- taxes, gay rights, gun control, and government, as well as touting their darling Sarah Palin -- was on display there. This does a lot to further seal the GOP's lot as a party that is stepping fast toward becoming a self-marginalized, mean spirited, faded political entity.
This isn't the first time that the Obama team created and then punched away at a GOP strawman target. When Republican rival John McCain plopped Sarah Palin on his ticket, a top Team Obama member reflexively hammered Palin. Obama quickly realized that it was a colossal mistake. He did the smart thing and simply congratulated her on being picked as McCain's VP candidate and then went back to talking about the issues. He knew not to make her the issue. But the lesson hasn't stuck in the case of Limbaugh.
By making Limbaugh bigger than life in American politics, it gives steam to his inflammatory campaign of rumors, half truths, distortions, and flat out lies about Obama, liberals, and now Steele. Limbaugh's aim with Steele is to further cow the GOP into line; the line that forms behind him.
At the start of his tenure as RNC chair, Steele had the good sense to know that kowtowing to Limbaugh was a prescription for even bigger disaster for the GOP. He resuscitated the old Bush line circa 2000, and talked about making the GOP a party of big tent diversity. Then like Bush he promptly forgot it.
That's exactly what Limbaugh with his conservative white man's litmus test for the GOP wants. But that flies in the face of what Obama's election triumph showed. That is that the country's fast changing ethnic vote demographics looks nothing like it did a decade ago. Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American voters now make up nearly a quarter of the nation's electorate. College educated whites make up more than one-third of the vote. Limbaugh's comfort zone voter demographic; white blue collar, heartland and deep South voters have shrunk to less than forty percent of the nation's voters. Immigration, higher birth rates, and the youth trends will continue to swell the numbers of minority and youth voters. The white electorate overall will continue to decline.
It's not only the numbers that work against the GOP. It's also ideology. The Democrats' expanding core base of voters is more moderate, socially active, and pro government; the exact opposite of what Limbaugh rants for.
Obama, Emanuel, and Steele know this. The Democrats would not have won the White House and Steele would not have beat out a pack of mostly Limbaugh fawning contenders for the RNC top spot if that hadn't been true.
Still, Limbaugh has one powerful tool to bully, badger and cajole the GOP and saber rattle Obama. That's the airwaves. He'll exploit it to the hilt. But that won't make him the boss of the GOP let alone any real threat to Obama. It'll just make him an inviting and convenient strawman.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is How Obama Won (Middle Passage Press, January 2009).
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As several others pointed out, Limbaugh is not a "straw man". A straw man is a fictional construct; Rush is a real person. Get your terminology straight.
Also, you misunderstand Obama's strategy regarding Palin and Limbaugh. The strategy is pretty much the same in both cases; give your opponents enough rope to hang themselves. The biggest difference is that Palin was already given a high profile role by her own party, so there was no need to inflate her importance any more.
Rush Limbaugh represents a marginal part of the body politic and probably a minority of the
Republican Party. By himself this whole thing would not have lasted a news cycle. What has given it legs is the spectacle of Republican officials and office holders toadying up to him. They have given Obama and the Democrats the gift of self-destructing before our eyes.
The Obama team has set up a plan worthy of Machiavelli or Batman. There's no *loss* for Obama here.
Do the Republicans continue kissing Limbaugh's ring? Then they look weak and ridiculous and they're tied to widely hated ideas. Point: Obama.
Do the Republicans repudiate Limbaugh and jettison the ideas that he endorses? Then they move to the middle by default. Point: Obama.
Do the Republicans continue being the Party of No but throw Limbaugh under the train? Less of a victory, but Limbaugh is humiliated. Half-point: Obama.
Perhaps if the Republicans remain as the "Party of No" WHILE kissing Rush's a$$ as the lack of recovery (because of Obamanomics or in spite of, it doesn't matter which) becomes apparent in 2009 and 2010, it will be Three Pointer: Rush and the Republicans-- come the midtem elections.
Karma aka what goes around comes around.
Interesting how the party of the elite smugly thought it could expand its base by using racism and jingoism to lure the "low-information" vote. Rupert Murdoch saw the oportunity to make some bucks by pandering to the worst in his yellow journalism and stations like Fox Noise.
In the end, the low information vote took over the party and is now making the elite kow-tow. Liberals (yes, there once were liberal Republicans, e.g., Lincoln Chaffee) and Dems can hardly restrain expressing their Schadenfreude.
Irony or poetic justice?
Brilliant artlcle!
I was afraid that they were empowering Limburger, but they're setting him up!
Rather than the expression straw man, I would say that the democrats are handing the
republicans their very own tar baby. It's hilarious watching them trying to free themselves.
It looks like Obama and Emanuel have got the R's in a perfect bind. If they follow Rush, they alienate the moderates that they need. If they criticize him, they alienate the "dittohead
Pass the popcorn please.
A strawman that his own party is afraid to disagree with. Thus forcing the rest of the party to either risk breaking with Limbaugh or to have to agree with him and alienate themselves from the rest of the country.
As to the Palin strategy, the idea is largely similar except that Palin was thrust into the limelight and then said stupid, divisive things that largely hanged her own party. Limbaugh, while being around for decades, was never in the limelight of mainstream media attention, and so while people knew there was this guy who said dumb stuff, they never realized how powerful he was within the party, much less that this guy was accorded such a status that the party's leaders are afraid of him.
Yes, Limbaugh's getting the limelight. But the limelight is revealing funny things about the way the GOP works, such as that the head of the GOP has to watch what he says lest he offend a guy that wants the president of the United States to fail during an economic crisis -- a think that, whatever your ideology may be, would have unpleasant consequences for the nation as a whole.
Limbaugh was thrust in the limelight precisely because he is much like Palin; he's going to say some dumb stuff, then the Obama administration is going to force Republicans to either agree with it (and make them pathetically easy to argue with) or risk Rush's displeasure by disagreeing and potentially split the party.
Al Franken was right. Limbaugh is even more irrelevant since the last election. It's up to the public and the current political wave to keep things in perspective and acknowledge Limbaugh for the windbag and truth-distorter that he is. David Letterman seems to understand this and already stuck a pin in his balloon. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta
lol
Great
Ok
Limbaugh isn't a strawman. There is a small group of conservative commentors and stations that form the basis of republucan idiology. People tune in daily while driving to work to listen to this man. his distortions readily become republican talking points in their most raw form.
More importantly, limbaugh is revered in republican circles, so taking him apart would be a huge blow. to the republican movement itself.
Not to mention limbaugh has called the GOP leadership worthless, and has put himself in a greater position of power. He may not have shot down legislation with a vote, but his influence is felt ever time he picks up a microphone.
AND Palin wasn't a straw man either. she was the weakest link. She would have collapsed on her own weight even without an attack simply because she started off the campaign with delusions of persectution. Believe it or not, pretending like your a victim turns a lot of people off after a while - even those who initially sympathized with you. Particularly when you use persecution as an excuse to cover up your own mistakes.
Furthermore, what palin and rush have in common is that they both choose willingly to make themselves an idiological head of right wing. Palin was praised as being the future of the republican party, rush has been idiolized as the voice of conservativism - and both wave the flag proudly, and people gather around them.
Calling them strawmen shows a complete misunderstanding of the situation.
I agree.
To call Limbaugh and Palin "strawmen" isn't very accurate. Like you say, Palin was "praised as being the future of the republican party, rush has been idolized as the voice of conservati
Earl, if Limbaugh becomes an inviting, convenient strawman - which he already is - where's the harm in Obama, Emmanuel, Gibbs, et al exploiting him as such? He can't be elected to any office and the only pull he really has is in getting anyone elected is in GOP primaries. The more he rants the better it is for Democrats, I say...
Obama was the best thing for Rush and the rest, instead of defending the Bush Admin's policy they can go on the attack, something their audience likes. same ole same ole methods-blacks, gays, are at fault for everything, etc etc. To me its a joke but the sad thing is some people take them seriously
Less than 2% of Americans. They are fringe.
I think it's a great strategy to make the GOP do what it must: acknowledge that they DO have to kiss El Rushbo's large rear end. He's NOT a marginal figure. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush Administration officials would not have made it a point to appear fairly regularly on his show if he were.
It's time to smash the GOP's ugly face in the mirror.
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