LEADERSHIP CULTIVATION

Rush Limbaugh Gets Stimulus Package from President Obama

I just left my car where "for entertainment purposes only", I listened to Rush Limbaugh rant about President Barack Obama. Limbaugh repeatedly referred to "our side", "us" and "we" as being this huge ground swell of opposition to the President and his policies. He said that "they" didn't need to moderate their viewpoint but instead should promote "a good looking conservative with charisma" to offset similar qualities found in the President. I thought to myself, who are these people that Rush keeps referring to and why haven't they stepped forward to be recognized? He can't be including Colin Powell and Tom Ridge and Karl Rove doesn't count. I guess Limbaugh after trying to sell President Bush to the American people is ecstatic to have President Obama as a convenience "prop" for his talking points that will allow him to grow his profit margin for years.

Call that Limbaugh getting a stimulus package from President Obama. It may be an indirect bailout, but make no mistake about it, the great entertainer is taking full advantage of it. Limbaugh sounded absolutely giddy as he went through his monologue on the radio. Ching, ching. Limbaugh complained about the stagnant GDP. Does he even know what the letters represent? I doubt it. Does it matter to his followers (now that's a scary thought)? Ditto. Like the "Energizer Bunny", Limbaugh went on and on jumping from one Obama criticism to the next. Blah blah blah blah blah. Try listening to that gobbledygook for an extended period of time. Talk about torture, water-boarding has nothing on Rush Limbaugh.

If you really want to make an enemy combatant talk, pipe Limbaugh into their cell and they will sing like a canary, "Make it stop, I will tell you everything!"  As nauseating as it is, don't expect Limbaugh to change his script any time soon, because President Obama is going to be around for a long time. Limbaugh is counting on it. He can't be so stupid to think that his gibberish is winning converts. The GOP numbers are shrinking. So if the goal is not to increase the base, then it's reasonable to conclude that it must be to sell the product line! Therefore, it's not credible for Limbaugh to accuse the President of moving the country towards Socialism. Since as long as Limbaugh shamelessly uses the President as a prop, he presents himself as evidence that the Free Enterprise System is in no danger of collapsing.

Powell to Rush, Cheney: There is room for me in the GOP

"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell told a crowd of 1,500 business leaders in Boston that included the Patriots QB, Tom Brady.

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A Chorus of Republican Voices Struggles With Tone

It is certainly not lost on Republicans that there has been a sharp rise in the number of Americans who think the country is headed in the right direction since Mr. Obama has taken office.

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Obama pokes fun of Republicans Clinton self at annual dinner

"During the second 100 days, we will design, build and open a library dedicated to my first 100 days."


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Palin Popularity Plunging in Polls

Sarah Palin is no longer the most popular governor in the country...Alaskans are starting to get it. Palin's job approval numbers have dropped consistently since she came back from the Hate Talk Express tour. Neglect doesn't play well here..Sarah Palin has dug her naughty monkey heels in; she is selfishly refusing $28.6 million in State Energy...

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Dave Bing Elected Detroit's Mayor

Dave Bing Elected Detroit's Mayor

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Fox News Caught Repeatedly Cropping, Manipulating Video

Yet more evidence of Fox News' attempts to deliberately misrepresent the words of Democratic Party officials through editing videos.

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Senate Guru: Stupid Republican Tricks

Some Republicans are just mind-numbingly stupid. Here are three such cases from the last 24-hours or so:

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Obama Press Briefing Visit: Outlines Supreme Court Views

With his chief counsel and chief of staff by his side, Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the press briefing room on Friday, addressing the retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter and laying our what kind of appointment he would make in his place.

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White House already on a hunt to replace Souter

A process begun months ago among White House lawyers to quietly compile a list of possible Supreme Court picks has accelerated with word Justice David Souter plans to step down form the bench later this year.

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Obama: Stamp out credit card 'abuses'

President meets with execs to press his case for consumer protections - a day after House panel OKs bill limiting increases on rates and fees....

My credit card company raised my rates by more than 6 percent even though I have excellent credit, when I told him I would have to go shop around he reminded me that my credit score would go down.

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Sam Stein: Axelrod: Obama Has Made Anti-Americanism Uncool

Responding to the somewhat overwrought critique that Obama did not properly stand up to hostile Latin American leaders during a trip to the region this past week, David Axelrod accused critics of missing the point.

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Tea Party Fallout: GOPers Worried, Independents Turned Off

"It is particularly ineffective for the Republican Party when it is Rush Limbaugh and the likes stirring it up. That just doesn't speak to the middle."


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Tea Party Protest Shut Down By Secret Service

Throwing a box over the White House fence probably not a good idea.

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Rush Limbaugh's 10 Dumbest Remarks

A series of quotes from America's king of flatulent utterances.

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Pemanent Democratic Majority: New Study Says Yes

A growing number of political scientists, analysts and strategists are making the case for a realignment of political power in the U.S. to a new Democratic majority based on two trends: 1) the increasing numbers of black and Hispanic voters, and 2) a decisive shift away from the Republican Party by the suburban and well-educated constituencies...

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Analysis: Obama beats first national security test

President Barack Obama's "no drama" handling of the Indian Ocean hostage crisis proved a big win for his administration in its first critical national security test.

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GOP Admits it "Owns" Fox

Robert G Kaufman's advice to the GOP: If I had to recommend one single thing that the Republicans should be doing to help articulate the message, it is to acquire another television network so that there is not just FOX

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Obama Notre Dame Debate: O'Donnell Smacks Down Buchanan (VID

O'Donnell blasted Buchanan for supporting the double standard and condemning abortion but defending George W. Bush's position on the death penalty, in contradiction to his Catholic beliefs.

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WaPost Wrong, No Presidential Divide for Black Americans

Throughout the 2008 Presidential Campaign, the public was subjected to a regular dose of fabrications about Barack Obama. Add to that regiment a Washington Post article that implies that there exists a widespread split in the Black community over the President, supposedly because some Black commentators like Tavis Smiley and Jeff Johnson have been outspoken critics.  The Post erroneously thinks that Black people rely upon these commentators for forming their opinion about how to feel about Mr. Obama.  That is simply not true. 

Believe it when I tell you that Tavis Smiley and Jeff Johnson do not speak for the masses.  Smiley lost favor with a lot of Black people when he rejected Michelle Obama as a suitable stand-in for candidate Obama at his New Orleans Covenant on Black America Summit. It doesn't help Johnson's case that Smiley was a consultant to Tom Joyner about who his replacement should be on his Morning Show. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that it is these guys who need the lesson.  Black America is not asleep at the wheel or stuck in some naivete zone. We simply do not expect the President to be held to a higher standard or pass some litmus test not required of his predecessors.  

For those who can't see the forest for the trees or somehow missed the real implication of the election of Mr. Obama, maybe this will help.  The significance for Black America or other non-whites is that now they can unequivocally tell their children that they could grow up to one day be President of the United States because there is empirical data to back up their assertions.  And Mr. Obama's election was a victory for Whites as well.  A false promise of equality had been draped across America from it's inception.  With the merit vote cast by Americans on November 4, 2009 that elected Mr. Obama, that burden was removed. 

When I posted in my blog that "Black people now look at White people differently and there is nothing that they can do about it", a White woman responded and thanked me for my statement that had presented her with a degree of relief.  My followup response to her was I hadn't harbored any ill feeling, but that a burden I didn't realize existed was now lifted from my shoulders. I understood why Americans cried on Election Day. Mr. Obama's election helped to heal some deep wounds.  So listen up pundits.  It wasn't some fleeting feel good moment and we don't need a play by play accountability tab kept on the President. We get it!  Mr. Obama needs to be judged by his performance and he will be as all the Presidents before him.  Isn't that the real point?