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Political Shares - Constructive Criticism from a supporter
President Obama's clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him -- and resurrecting a deflated GOP! Plus: Lay off Rush!
By Camille Paglia
March 11, 2009 | Free Barack!
Yes,
free the president from his flacks, fixers and goons -- his posse of
smirky smart alecks and provincial rubes, who were shrewd enough to
beat the slow, pompous Clintons in the mano-a-mano primaries but who
seem like dazed lost lambs in the brave new world of federal
legislation and global statesmanship.
Heads should be rolling at the White House
for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President
Obama's first seven weeks in office and given the scattered,
demoralized Republicans a huge boost toward regrouping and
resurrection. (Michelle, please use those fabulous toned arms to butt
some heads!)
First it was that chaotic pig rut of a stimulus package,
which let House Democrats throw a thousand crazy kitchen sinks into
what should have been a focused blueprint for economic recovery. Then
it was the stunt of unnerving Wall Street by sending out a shrill duo
of slick geeks (Timothy Geithner
and Peter Orszag) as the administration's weirdly adolescent spokesmen
on economics. Who could ever have confidence in that sorry pair?
And then there was the fiasco of the ham-handed White House reception for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
which was evidently lacking the most basic elements of ceremony and
protocol. Don't they read the "Iliad" anymore in the Ivy League? Check
that out for the all-important ritual of gift giving, which has
cemented alliances around the world for 5,000 years.
President
Obama -- in whom I still have great hope and confidence -- has been
ill-served by his advisors and staff. Yes, they have all been
blindsided and overwhelmed by the crushing demands of the presidency.
But I continue to believe in citizen presidents, who must learn by
doing, even in a perilous age of terrorism. Though every novice
administration makes blunders and bloopers, its modus operandi should
not be a conspiratorial reflex cynicism.
Case in point: The orchestrated attack on radio host Rush Limbaugh,
which has made the White House look like an oafish bunch of drunken
frat boys. I returned from carnival in Brazil (more on that shortly) to
find the Limbaugh affair in full flower. Has the administration gone
mad? This entire fracas was set off by the president himself, who
lowered his office by targeting a private citizen by name. Limbaugh had
every right to counterattack, which he did with gusto. Why have so many
Democrats abandoned the hallowed principle of free speech? Limbaugh,
like our own liberal culture hero Lenny Bruce, is a professional
commentator who can be as rude and crude as he wants.
Yes,
I cringe when Rush plays his "Barack the Magic Negro" satire or when he
gratuitously racializes the debate over Philadelphia Eagles quarterback
Donovan McNabb,
who is a constant subject of withering scrutiny for quite different
reasons on sports shows here in Philadelphia. On the other hand, I
totally agree with Rush about "feminazis," whose amoral tactics and
myopic worldview I as a dissident feminist had to battle for decades.
As a student of radio and a longtime listener of Rush's show, I have
gotten a wealth of pleasure and insight from him over the years. To
attack Rush Limbaugh is to attack his audience -- and to intensify the
loyalty of his fan base.
If
Rush's presence looms too large for the political landscape, it's
because of the total vacuity of the Republican leadership, which seems
to be in a dithering funk. Rush isn't responsible for the feebleness of
Republican voices or the thinness of Republican ideas. Only ignoramuses
believe that Rush speaks for the Republican Party.
On the contrary, Rush as a proponent of heartland conservatism has
waged open warfare with the Washington party establishment for years.
And
I'm sick of people impugning Rush's wealth and lifestyle, which is no
different from that of another virtuoso broadcaster who hit it big -- Oprah Winfrey.
Rush Limbaugh is an embodiment of the American dream: He slowly rose
from obscurity to fame on the basis of his own talent and grit. Every
penny Rush has earned was the result of his rapport with a vast
audience who felt shut out and silenced by the liberal monopoly of
major media. As a Democrat and Obama supporter, I certainly do not
agree with everything Rush says or does. I was deeply upset, for
example, by the sneering tone both Rush and Sean Hannity took on Inauguration Day,
when partisan politics should have been set aside for a unifying
celebration of American government and history. Nevertheless, I respect
Rush for his independence of thought and his always provocative news
analysis. He doesn't run with the elite -- he goes his own way.
President
Obama should yank the reins and get his staff's noses out of
slash-and-burn petty politics. His own dignity and prestige are on the
line. If he wants a second term, he needs to project a calmer
perspective about the eternal reality of vociferous opposition, which
is built into our democratic system. Right now, the White House is
starting to look like Raphael's scathing portrait of a pampered, passive Pope Leo X
and his materialistic cardinals -- one of the first examples of an
artist sending a secret, sardonic message to posterity. Do those
shifty, beady-eyed guys needing a shave remind you of anyone? Yes, it's
bare-knuckles Chicago pugilism, transplanted to Washington. The charitably well-meaning but hopelessly extravagant Leo X, by the way, managed to mishandle the birth of the Protestant Reformation, which permanently split Christianity.
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