RSS Feed MenuPresident Obama and Rush Limbaugh do not agree on much, but they share at least one thing: Both wish to see Rush anointed as the leader of the Republican party. Here’s Rahm Emanuel on Face the Nation yesterday: “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican party.”
What a great endorsement for Rush! (And we know Rush is fond of compliments – listen to his loving account in his CPAC speech of the birthday lunch given him by President Bush just before Inauguration Day.)
But what about the rest of the party? Here’s the duel that Obama and Limbaugh are jointly arranging:
On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. This president invokes the language of “responsibility,” and in his own life seems to epitomize that ideal: He is physically honed and disciplined, his worst vice an occasional cigarette. He is at the same time an apparently devoted husband and father. Unsurprisingly, women voters trust and admire him.
And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as “losers.” With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence – exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we’re cooperating! Those images of crowds of CPACers cheering Rush’s every rancorous word – we’ll be seeing them rebroadcast for a long time.
Rush knows what he is doing. The worse conservatives do, the more important Rush becomes as leader of the ardent remnant. The better conservatives succeed, the more we become a broad national governing coalition, the more Rush will be sidelined.
But do the rest of us understand what we are doing to ourselves by accepting this leadership? Rush is to the Republicanism of the 2000s what Jesse Jackson was to the Democratic party in the 1980s. He plays an important role in our coalition, and of course he and his supporters have to be treated with respect. But he cannot be allowed to be the public face of the enterprise – and we have to find ways of assuring the public that he is just one Republican voice among many, and very far from the most important.
Emma McD // Mar 5, 2009 at 8:54 am
I don’t trust this president. And I’m positive his “worst vice an occasional cigarette” is far from the truth. What about his drug use? What about his questionable relationships? What about his plans to socialize this great country and throw out the Constitution? I consider those far worse than a cigarette.
I am a thirty-something, hispanic, colleged educated female, and a fan of Rush, Mark Levin, and Sean Hannity because I believe they have it right. The Republican party needs to get back to our true Conservative roots not do Conservatism light. I believe there are more like me than you’re willing to admit.
In regards to your article, it’s evident to me which man you seem to admire. Why such negative words when discussing Rush? You could have made your point without the attack. Your statements are “ugly and incendiary” not Rush’s. You, sir, are the true entertainer here.
infinitewisdom // Mar 5, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Consider this, last week Obama starts his speech at a Marine base at 12:06, over 20 minutes late, at the same time Rush starts his show. This is a “soft-spoken and conciliatory” President?! He uses the office of the Presidency to bully citizens of the US while others with glazed eyes and frothing mouths stammer on about how wonderful BO is and how is only vice is an occasional cigarette. These people are clueless.
Conservatism should not be watered down or apologized for. Rush is a conservative and IS the most visable promoter of conservatism. That does not mean he wishes he was the leader of conservatism and he certainly does not want to be the leader of the Republican party.
Would it make a difference if the Republican politicians were leaders of conservatism? You bet. They did it before.
Citizen K. // Mar 5, 2009 at 2:56 pm
You can agree or disagree with Mr. Frum’s characterizations of President Obama and Rush Limbaugh. I think he would agree with me that that is beside the point. I understand him to mean that — like it or not — these are the public faces of the two and that this is a development welcomed by Democrats.
To a point. The partisan in me welcomes this development. I’m no more “aghast” (to quote Jonah Goldberg) than I am frightened by the possibility of Palin candidacy in 2012. In the partisan sense, Limbaugh as the face of conservatism and Palin as the leader of the Republican party are welcome developments that portend a replay of the 1936 presidential election.
The citizen in me, though, thinks that Limbaugh has no place in the public discourse. He’s shrill and bombastic and permits no deviation from his definition of political correctness. There is literally zero intellectual content to his diatribes. If he is the true face of today’s conservatism, well, I wonder what happened to their ideas.
In an intellectual sense, it is hard to take seriously a political movement that doubts the reality of evolution, that pushes the energy expertise of Sarah Palin, that touts the crackpot notion that the President of the United States is not an American citizen, and whose resentment is so great that it actually believes Democrats wanted President Bush to fail. (I’d like to see a single example of this.)
BTW, for anyone who doubts President Obama’s skills, I hope you tuned into the today’s health care summit.
pianoguy // Mar 5, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Brave post, Mr. Frum. I urge conservatives to study the case of Colorado. Judging from the 2008 election, it’s still a solidly conservative state – all leftist ballot initiatives got hammered, and one anti-union ballot initiative passed even though its sponsors didn’t campaign for it. But meanwhile the government turned even bluer, and now the governor, a majority in both state houses, both senators, and five of seven representatives are Democrats. The reason lies with our Republican party: Moderate Republicans can’t get nominated, and far-right Republicans can’t get elected. If the Republicans would bend a little, they’d own the state, and there would be nothing Democrats could do about it. As it is, Colorado will be blue as long as the Democrats don’t overreach.
Parties such as the Greens and the Libertarians can afford to be ideologically pure. They don’t actually have to win elections or govern. But any party that aspires to national relevance is necessarily going to be a coalition of people who have somewhat different interests.
I am, btw, a liberal Democrat, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But I also love my country, and I believe it needs a vital and effective Republican party to keep my guys honest. I’m totally with you that power corrupts!
Elirc34 // Mar 6, 2009 at 1:47 am
Why not just throw in with Obama?
Are you so eager to embrace the killing fields of Cambodia?
Comparing Rush to Jesse Jackson?
Please put down the crack pipe.
Shame on you.
Take a good hard look at yourself, Mr Frum…or just get out.
Your post here isn’t brave. It’s cruel and evil. It hurts us all.
Rush is a vanguard for sanity in truly insane times.
Rather than root for Obama’s socialism indirectly you’d help the cause much more by openly campaigning for him.
(Let me give you a primer “yes we can! yes we can! change, change, change!” rinse and repeat.)
Whether you realize it or not, you are now squarely part of the problem, and you’ll have to change your ways to be part of the solution.
But rest assured. You can feel free to ignore my post, as you’ll most assuradly ignore so many others, drunk on your false sense of self worth.
It’s easy! It’s just like ignoring the daily gyrations of the stock market, as your worth goes down, and down and…
Oops! It’s all gone!
Good bye!
burron // Mar 6, 2009 at 4:54 am
rush,levin,hannity and many more our soprano of liberty………amennnnnnn…
M. Fleischmann // Mar 6, 2009 at 9:41 am
Your the kind of sell out that sold California down the river over the last two decades. I bet you got into politics as a way to compensate for a small appendage between your legs and to further grow your ego maniac personality. I think you should do some soul searching and realize that the Republican Party needs to beat the Democrats on the one thing they can, Philosophy! Like the conservative philosophy of Mark Levin, Larry Elder, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Thomas Sowell, the Great Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan, and the rest of them. You know who I’m speaking of. Those free thinking guys that have talent and are extrememly smart. The guy you really want to be like but cannot, because you take the easy way out. Way to strive for the top you creep. Thanks to guys like you who compromise til the cows come home, America is in a very shaky position.
donnarooty // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:13 pm
You joined the bandwagon of Obama by playing into his hype of trying to marginalize not just Rush, but all of conservative talk radio and its listeners.
Let me tell you something, you RINO. I am a conservative FIRST, not a mind-numbed robot who takes marching and talking orders like the liberals do. I, and many other conservatives, do not follow the drumbeat of any ‘figurehead’. The media and Obama henchmen are the ones appointing us a ‘leader’.
We make up our own minds and make our own decisions. It is the same media and government complaining about Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Levin etc that have made our relationship possible. There is nowhere else for us to turn to hear about OUR way of life and to hear about OUR beliefs. But especially to hear the TRUTH. The media threw us overboard years ago and these personalities picked up where liberals were afraid to tread.
So keep up the good work and be the mouthpiece for ABC, CBS, CNN, B.O., Air America, etc. . They will love you forever. That is, until you step on the wrong toes, then they will throw you overboard like yesterdays unreported news. But you better make sure you have no skeletons in your closet first. Because they don’t just let their enemies walk away unscathed. They will first sic the IRS on you, then publicly humiliate you. That is their motus operandus you know. Oh, but you wouldn’t know that, would you. You listen to and watch mainstream media.
jimjim // Mar 6, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I’m not going to say much here because others have said a lot. But your point that Rush will be sidelined when conservatives succeed is rediculous. Do you honestly want to be taken seriously? Can you not remember 1994? Rush was an honorary member of the freshman house members and his listenership grew tremendously during those years. Face it. Your guys lost. Republicans are not as good at being idiots as the Democrats are so we should focus on being what we are. Conservative. You only wish you have the impact that Rush does.
crimsonking // Mar 6, 2009 at 4:03 pm
We have to stop the internecine b.s. Rush is not the “leader” of anything except Rush, EIB, and the “dittoheads.” He is a smart guy whose heart is more or less in the right place and whose vision for America is a pretty good vision. Chris Buckley bristles, understandably, at Rush trying to carve out some WFB like role — that’s absurd on so many levels I won’t waste space here, but it would also be absurd for Bill Buckley to try to be Rush (not that he ever would have wanted to try). We’re a team, or need to be. There’s room on the team for the erudite, the elite, the old money, the blue bloods…the neocons, reformed neocons…the Jews (like Frum, like me)…the brown guys…the WASPs, everyone who prefers Locke to Rousseau, smaller to larger government, freedom to un-freedom. OK? Rush swings a big bat and he should be encouraged to swing it. The ivy league intellectual wing of the party/movement needs to defend him AS WHAT HE IS, not navel-gaze or chatter about what’s not. Rush is lovable and offensive to many. Emanuel was a brilliant manipulator by uttering a single sentence. But even having the debate is adding fuel to the fire. I’m from the over-educated, Northeast, so-articulate-my-relatives-from-Michigan-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I-just said wing. I could drop clever cultural references in here. The attacks on Rush from transparent propagandists like Egan at the NYT are pathetic. He’s fat, he’s a drug abuser, he’s struck out at marriage three times. How intellectual of you to notice. And? And he has 20 million listeners a week, is usually pretty thoughtful about actual matters of actual substance, and he should be simply defended by people who have an interest in steering the country in the right (both senses) direction. If I can defend Rush in the circles in which I travel, so can any of you. No dittos. Just common sense.
crimsonking // Mar 6, 2009 at 4:15 pm
The bigger issue, I forgot to suggest, is that we have an image problem. Things like Rush @ CPAC add to that image problem. But, does the content of Rush’s speech come out as a net gain versus the “do we want to be the party of self-promoting mafia-looking fat guys?” Not sure. I cringed at a lot of the footage, especially with Rush jumping up and down leading a cheer for himself, which has given the Countdown crowd plenty of amusement. But, I did get behind the majority of what the guy actually said. So we need to figure out how to use technology, talk to young people, talk to babes, talk to women who don’t want to be called babes, and get people to look past the jowls and jocularity and see what the point is…we need the Professor AND Captain AND Gilligan. You sort out who is who!
earnhardt727 // Mar 7, 2009 at 10:49 am
sir,i usually dont address things like this,but i read your piece and then listened to you on mark levin,where do you get off calling yourself a conservative,your description of obama tells me you are already one of his,his policies,his actions are all anti-consevative,but you annoint him like a greek god,you are a pretender sir,you are no conservative and i hope you arent a republician,if you are,then i already know the rest of the story.
FairWitness // Mar 7, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Mr Frum, My apologies that the Kool-aid drinkers have swarmed on your post missing the most important points therein.
I suppose this means the irony of their criticism is lost.
At any rate, you’ve hit it out of the park on this one. You’re spot-on.
C Archer // Mar 7, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Principles. Limbaugh espouses them eloquently and they resonate. THAT is why he is a target. Fear. You Mr. Frum exhibit that and it has clouded your judgment.
BrianTheRight // Mar 7, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I almost do not want to comment on this article because it might give this mental midget encouragement to write more hit pieces on Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, and others of the right who are not willing to give up our principles. The Republican Party does not need to mold itself to be acceptable to more, it needs to revert to it core principles that made it the landslide party of the 80’s. It is people like David Frum, not Rush Limbaugh that are destroying the party. Mr. Frum obviously has issues with Rush Limbaugh and what appears to be a school girl crush on the president. I do not want to get into personal attacks, but the man on Mark Levin did sound a little light in the loafers. I know Mark mentioned he has a 15 year old son. Anyway, Mr. Frum if you do not like the conservatives in the republican party and if you want to strap us with another moderate looser like Bob Dole or John McCain, go join another party, The Libertarians lose a lot, go join them, LEAVE MY PARTY ALONE!
THX 1138 // Mar 8, 2009 at 10:34 am
How can we count the ways?
1. The cover matters more than the content. Obama looks cool and Limbaugh bothers Miss Frum.
2. People in flyover country are beneath contempt. Rush is akin to Jesse Jackson, in that he articulates a point of view offensive to an effete corps of impudent snobs.
3. Important Republicans like John “Amnestia” McCain are better spokesmen for the way we can “do the same, but less,” and therefore awaken the spirit of small government and individual responsibility America desperately needs to stave off Obama’s Fabian socialism.
4, Right has no coalition with wrong. Mr. Frum, it’s better to admit you have no truck with the Republican party than to pretend you speak for its principles. You are the Paul Krugman of Republican strategy, the Henry Kissinger negotiating the terms of surrender to our enemy.
WilliamBrown // Mar 8, 2009 at 9:42 pm
“Hey, Frum: you’re a putz”! I could not have said it better. I listened to you on Levin’s show and you’re a typical Eastern establishment loser RINO. You have nothing to offer the conservative movement but divisive remarks about people who have carried the Republican Party’s water long before you came on the scene. I want you to fail! what do you think about that, you putz?
rightsusan // Mar 16, 2009 at 7:32 am
If one assumes that perhaps 95% of Republicans are Christians then it would follow that about 20 million of them (Baugh’s declared audience/supporters) are not Christian at all, or they are hypocrites for failing to “love thy neighbour” and “do unto others… etc”.
blackjack // Apr 3, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Excellant! Frum you hit it on the head. As long as the Republican party is chained to Rush and his Ditto head legions they will never REPEAT never gain power. THe democratic party resembles the american population in demographic. What the republicans have to understand is that are doing this to themselves. Their party is restricted to white older chirstians. Hardly a formula for building a coalition to regain power
ertdfg // May 13, 2009 at 10:04 am
Brilliant.To get a Republican majority, only one step is necessary. Give up all principles, positions, stances, and beliefs.Abortion? Works for me. Gay marriage? Why not. Polygamy? Sure, what’s the problem. Spending trillions of dollars we don’t have? Sweet idea. Abandon our allies around the world? Who cares, we’re getting a majority here. Government tracking people without warrants? “Yes we can”.Soon we’ll have a majority of big tax, pro-choice big spending, government increasing politicians with the magic (R) after their names and we’ll “win”. Sure it will be exactly the same as it is now; but it’ll be our side spending the money we don’t have, driving the economy off a cliff and pushing for less morality… won’t that be better?See instead of letting the Democrats wreck things, we’ll be wrecking things in exactly the same way. That’s what Frum calls “winning”.Of course if you actually have principles you believe in and won’t throw away, or actually hold beliefs for more than just political gain, and don’t hold the Republican name as the only good in the nation… this is actually a lot like “losing”. But surely people with principles, beliefs, standards, and morals are few and far between. We can probably win a majority of the vote without those people. At least that would be Frum’s bet.
FRANKCOLLATT // Jun 12, 2009 at 8:52 am
Here David Frum goes again, just like a little sissy crying because someone stole his lollipop. David Frum, what kind of a background do you have? Are you gay? Are you straight? Do you do drugs? Alcohol? Do you crave power? Recognition? Appreciation? David Frum, you are typical of the Disoriented and Lost Liberal, Left-Wing Radicalized Democrat. You really don’t offer anything but criticism that serves no purpose other than to degrade, and do harm. David Frum, you never offer any solutions because you have none. I have read the majority of your postings Frum, and when I was finished, I had a feeling that I just wasted time out of my life for nothing. I was not educated, enlightened, nor did I gain any knowledge. What I experienced was the babbling reduced to words of a cynic, a simpleton, that does have anything to offer his readers…… You are a loser David Frum, a miscreant, devoid of intelligence, or value. A waste of energy utilized by your parents in pro-creating…..
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