NEW ORLEANS - This week, Barack Obama marks the first anniversary of the historic election that put him in the White House. His one-year milestone is mired in politics over the economy, health care reform and an escalation in the war in Afghanistan. With the baptism by fire, come loud choruses of criticism from conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh. Sunday, on Fox News, Limbaugh said the president "is in over his head." "He really has no experience running anything," said Limbaugh. "He's very young. I think he's got an out-of-this-world ego. He's very narcissistic." Limbaugh warned that the U.S. economy is now under siege by unprecedented radical leadership in the White House. "They're destroying it,” said Limbaugh. "I have to think that it may be on purpose, because this is just outrageous, what is happening -- a denial of liberty, an attack on freedom." Limbaugh then explained why he often refers to Mr. Obama as the "man-child president." "That -- that description is simply a way to cut through the noise and say he's immature, inexperienced," said Limbaugh. Obama senior advisor David Axelrod shot back on CBS. "Well, I think it's a surreal day when you're getting lectures on humility from Rush Limbaugh," said Axelrod. The Obama administration has opening criticized the Fox News Network, referring to it as the far-right wing of the Republican Party. Still, Axelrod on behalf of the administration brushed off Limbaugh's statements. "He's marketing the outrageous," said Axelrod. "And he does very well with it. But as I said he's an entertainer. We've got bigger responsibilities. We're going to discharge those responsibilities." "Really, what we see is a convergence of fear, marrying hatred of some degree," said New Orleans political strategist Dr. Silas Lee. Lee says recent verbal attacks against the president have been more personal than political. "President Obama represents the face of government," said Lee. "He happens to be African-American. We haven't seen this level of attacks against any sitting president. Even though citizens disagreed with the policies of former President Bush, we didn't have people saying he was un-American." Lee says with 20-40-million listeners a day, the Obama Administration should not discount Rush Limbaugh's message as mere entertainment. "For many people, they are not going to research the facts," said Lee. "They're going to take what he says as fact and they're going to use that to formulate public opinion." Dr. Lee says there is a "dark-side" to some of the anti-Obama rhetoric. He says various organizations that monitor speech and communications in America report a rise in anti-government militia groups and threats against the president.
Anonymous said on November 3, 2009 at 8:36 AM
And who is surprised by this outcome?
sawbino said on November 3, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Dr. Lee must live in another universe. Most of the criticism of obama is about his socialist/marxist beliefs! It has NOTHING to do with the color of his skin. By the way Dr. Lee, he is half white as well. Dr. Lee has certainly shown us where his political views are leaning, to the left!
okieoneshinobi said on November 3, 2009 at 12:41 PM
To think that it is anything other than racism that is fueling the opposition to Obama is utterly and totally ridiculous. The right wing wack jobs use words like Marxist and socialist, what that really means is that they watch too much Glenn Beck. The fact is that we have a government that is controlled by the corporations. They fund the campaigns and write the laws. The ONLY reason there is not health care reform yet is because most of congress gets huge donations from the insurance companies. Our government is supposed to be by the people and for the people not by the corporations and for the corporations. It is not Socialism to try to help up the middle class. Obama is doing everything that can be done day in and day out and he is insulted in a way I have never seen. He has not even been in office for a year, and most of what he has been doing is trying to get the economy working again after the disasters of the last 8 years. So far things have only gone up since he started.