Obama Tells Congressional GOP To Turn Off Rush Limbaugh Show: Will Media Notice?

January 24th, 2009 6:55 AM

The Drudge Report blared the New York Post report by Charles Hurt that President Obama told the Republicans in Congress that they should go along and get along, and stop listening to Rush Limbaugh: "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

Obama is clearly worried that Rush Limbaugh is going to be the GOP Speaker of the House, so to speak. Over at Radio Equalizer, talk-radio guru Brian Maloney is amused:

Beyond the absurdity of a Democrat barking orders at his political opposition, he's especially foolish to air his fear of Limbaugh and talk radio in a public setting. Now, what was long suspected by conservatives has been verified by the man himself.

The timing was no coincidence: after a rocky first week in office, the Obamists are also faced with a resurgent Fox News Channel, where ratings have been climbing since the moment he took office.

In particular, Hannity's Limbaugh interview, which took place in the latter's Florida studios, scored fantastic audience figures for the former's network. In overall viewers, Thursday's Hannity nearly trebled his MSNBC competition and almost doubled CNN's Larry King.

By telling Republicans to stop listening to Limbaugh, President Obama’s only singling out Limbaugh (as he’s often singled out Sean Hannity) as menaces to his cult of personality:

After a rough start for the Obamists this week, the last thing they want is a viable, effective opposition movement. Rush, Sean and others provide hope that America can be saved from this budding dictator and his cultist followers.

But as the new regime oversteps its bounds, it is far more likely to elevate talk hosts to heights they've never before seen, proving Obama is truly a rank amateur.

Will the Obama-loving media notice this signal that Obama is telling Republicans who shows they should listen to? Let’s imagine that Obama went to a black audience and suggested to them that if they wanted to make their way in America, they should stop listening to Al Sharpton’s radio show, because it’s too divisive. How long would the media ignore those remarks?

This is also a distinct signal that Obama could be serious about imposing a Censorship Doctrine on talk radio. White House correspondents who aren’t in the tank for Obama ought to be peppering White House spokesman Robert Gibbs with questions about this report.