Republicans rush to Rush

By Weekly Archive On Mar 10, 2009

In
her 1996 hit "Me Without You," Christian pop-rock singer
Rebecca St. James compared her dreary existence to being "like a
band without a drummer … like a foot without a shoe … like a
sleuth without a clue … like a ship without a rudder."

"Like
a ship without a rudder." St. James was singing about the state
of her life without God, but she could have been singing about the
state of the Republican Party today. Not since Barry Goldwater
crashed and burned in 1964 have Republicans been in such disarray:
drifting apart with no agenda, no message and no leader.

Clearly,
even though he was elected chairman of the Republican National
Committee, Michael Steele is not the leader of the Republican Party.
As he found out the hard way. After Steele dismissed Rush Limbaugh as
an "entertainer" with an "incendiary" and "ugly"
style, Limbaugh fired back, reminding him: "Michael Steele, you
are head of the Republican National Committee. You are not head of
the Republican Party." And Steele was forced to apologize,
insisting he was not trying to diminish Limbaugh’s "voice or his
leadership."

Which
just proves that Limbaugh is right. Steele’s not the top-dog
Republican. The de facto head of the Republican Party is Limbaugh
himself — and there’s no doubt what Limbaugh’s agenda is. He laid it
out on Jan. 16, four days before Barack Obama took the oath of
office. Asked by a major publication to submit 400 words on his hopes
for the Obama presidency, the nation’s No. 1 talker said he needed
only four words: "I hope he fails."

Forget
bipartisanship. The Republicans’ goal, preaches Limbaugh, is to
frustrate Obama at every turn and oppose everything he stands for.
That’s the agenda already adopted by House Minority Leader John
Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and now, apparently,
Michael Steele. All three are taking their marching orders right from
the radio.

The
fact that Republicans have hitched their wagon to Rush Limbaugh’s
star makes Democrats deliriously happy, and rightfully so. The latest
Gallup poll (February 2009) shows Limbaugh with a "favorable"
rating of only 28 percent: lower than George W. Bush’s final approval
rating. That’s only slighter better than an October 2008 Greenberg
Quinlan Rosner survey in which Limbaugh scored a 21 percent approval
rating, lower than that of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and former Weatherman
Bill Ayers. For Democrats, the more Republicans swear allegiance, the
better.

But
anointing El Rushbo as their leader also makes thoughtful Republicans
nervous, and rightfully so. They recognize, for starters, that with
this country in such dire economic straits, the phrase "I hope
he fails" is not what most Americans, Democrat or Republican,
want to hear.

This
is one time when blind party loyalty has zero appeal, because people
realize that if Obama fails, the economy fails, and the country
fails.

The
other reason some Republicans are nervous is because hosting a radio
show is not the same as leading a political party. They’re two
totally different jobs. Take it from me: I have my own show. A radio
talk show host is accountable to no one. Our mission is not to
support any political party. We have only two goals: to make noise
and to make money. In order to stir things up and keep our shows
lively, we can say or do all kinds of things on the radio that we
wouldn’t dare attempt if we had any real responsibility.

In
Rush’s case, there’s no doubt that his now oft-repeated wish for
Obama to fail is vastly popular with the Republican Party’s
conservative base. But that’s not the message the party should be
putting out there if it really wants to reach beyond its base and
return from the political wilderness. As former Bush speechwriter
David Frum wrote on his Web site, NewMajority.com: "If you’re a
talk radio host and you have 5 million people who listen and there
are 50 million people who hate you, you can make a nice living. If
you’re a Republican Party, you’re marginalized."

As
entertaining as it is, the entire, embarrassing Limbaugh/Steele
slap-down reflects a serious identity crisis for Republicans. And it
forces every Republican to answer two simple questions. Do they agree
with Rush Limbaugh, yes or no? Do they want President Obama to fail,
yes or no?

By
answering "yes," Republicans will choose to follow a radio
talk show host — right over the cliff.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.
(c)
2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.