was a rookie mistake. Well, Obama is a political rookie and he's going to be making stupid mistakes for quite some time to come, which is one reason why he should never have been made president by gullible fools.

The reason that it was a mistake is that it demeans the president to attack a private citizen and it is petty and stupid to boot. It's equivalent to an 800 pound gorilla bullying a hamster. Even if the hamster is a rabid Rush Limbaugh, it IS going to get sympathy in some quarters. The net effect is that Obama probably dramatically increased Rush's permanent listener base and pissed off those members of the legislature that Obama was trying to court. Not because any of them feel any particular loyalty to Limbaugh but because Obama implied that anyone unwilling to vote for his bail out proposal was a knuckledragging troglodyte. It's similar to the way that Jacob Weisburg pissed off thousands of non-Obama supporters during the campaign when he declared anyone not intending to vote for Obama to be a racist.

The President of the United States of America is not supposed to pick public fights with private citizens. That was a STUPID move on Obama's part.

So, Obama is -- as predicted by clear thinkers during the campaign season -- is making stupid rookie mistakes as president.

To an extent it doesn't matter if he hugs and kisses the republican legislators after the fact. He's already insulted them and they are not going to forget regarding what he really, obviously, thinks about him. In their minds he is a whackadoodle, hardcore, leftwingnut, and it's too late for Obama to sweet talk them into thinking otherwise. Some things you just can't take back.

Limbaugh is an ass, a bloviating infotainer peddling idiocy to the booboisie. Any legislator with the tiniest fragment of serious regard for him and the drivel he pukes out to sell ad time doesn't deserve the job-- and is welcome to make a fool of himself by getting all huffy with the President for publicly stating the obvious. It won't matter one good goddamn.

Mmmmmm . . . cookie . . . @

DC,

You're right. But what people are discovering is that for The Bama, it's a more personal thing. See, it is apparent he has what is known as a "Sally Fields" complex. He is compulsive about how he is perceived...he must be perceived as close to perfectly as possible. Which is why I'm sure he was traumatized by the flubbed oath...it's on tape-FOREVER. And he is powerless to change it. He'll probably have Smithsonian video version edited, though, just to prevent the tick from developing. It genuinely troubles him to think there are some people (Limbaugh, Hannity, eg.) who don't agree with him, because not to agree with him is to not like him. It apparently is the only way he feels validated as a person, to isolate/target those who express dissention and feel more confident by getting supporters to agree with him and turn on the enemy. So his acceptance speech may well have been, "You like me...you really like me. I'd like to thank the Academy..."

Shit, almost forgot...(Tubbs, sarcasm alert above)...see, I remembered!!

Does Limbaugh really represent conservatives in Congress? I always saw him as the screeching harpy of choice for the fat, uninformed masses. George Will, Tucker Carlson, and David Brooks are more respectable (i.e. more civil, less deceptive) conservatives, and are more likely spokesmen for the conservative intelligentsia. I can't imagine John Kyl or Mitch McConnell listening to Limbaugh anymore than I can imagine Barney Frank or Barack Obama reading DailyKos.

funny. I don't know if being liked is a pathological motivation for Obama or not. I just know that he is going to be making many rookie mistakes for the next two years until he finally learns HOW to BE president.

But he is the lightweight-in-chief we have rather than the powerhouse we needed. She is going to be the Secretary of State. :-)

I SAID that republicans may not care all that much about Limbaugh but they DO care about Obama trying emotional blackmail on them through mockery. He essentially said that anyone who doesn't vote for his bail out package IS a Rush Limbaugh dittohead whether or not they are in reality.

...but the caravan moves on.

and the libs keep barking...

that if a nation of idiots put Obama into the Oval Office that he would begin making rookie mistakes that Hillary Clinton or John McCain WOULD NOT have made. Ta-da! It's magic, eh?

Give us a break with the fucking PUMA rhetoric, we have heard it over and over, the election is over, HRC has moved on and it is time for you to move on as well.

No, it's not a rookie mistake. He's got the Republicans on the ropes, they lost in 2006, 2008, and are now threatened with losing again in 2010. Rush Limbaugh is about to play the same sort of whipping boy/boogie man role that George McGovern played for years in the 70s and 80s. Rush Limbaugh is now defined as 'out there.'

Just compare Obama with Clinton in 1992. By this time, Clinton was embroiled in all kinds of absurd controversy, much of which he brought upon himself, from gays in the military to the fact that he couldn't get an attorney general appointed because his appointees had 'nanny' problems. People were picking on him because his cabinet didn't 100 percent 'look like America'--whatever the hell that meant.

In contrast Obama is getting his appointments through, even though Geither had tax problems. Nobody's talking about what his cabinet 'looks like.' And there's no doubt that his stimulus package is going to get passed. Obama is WAY further ahead than Bill Clinton was. He doesn't look like a rookie to me.

I don't know what Clinton would have done or how well she would have done. Better than Bill, I guess. I guess we'd all be wearing pink pants suits or something.

I'm sure that if McCain had been elected, this country would right now be utterly and totally demoralized, Republicans along with Democrats. McCain is just utterly unsuited for the times, or any other times if you ask me.

The economic crisis has made everything different, so it's very hard to imagine anyone else as president right now. I'm not sure that Hillary Clinton could have offered the same kind of emotional reassurances that Obama seems to be able to offer. I KNOW McCain could offer no reassurances of any kind, since he's mainly a flake.

Limbaugh is popular with the same 25% that thinks GWB was a "honorable man" and a Great President.

Honestly? No one cares about that bunch except Limbaugh. Limbaugh wants their money so he's going to keep feeding them the drivel that they want to hear. And the more he does that, the more the GOP CongressCritters are going to be faced with an unpallatable choice:

• Go with what Limbaugh endorses
• Roll over and play ball with Obama.

Obama taking on Limbaugh was no rookie mistake. By doing so, he essentially irritated Limbaugh (and Hannity and the rest) into feeding the flames of partisanship.

Well we know how the partisanship came down in the last election. Previously "safe Republican" districts suddenly had to fight to stay GOP.

Sure, if you are a House GOP member from a conservative TX district, you don't need to worry. But if you are a House member from Northern Va, or a Senator from KY or OH, you DO need to worry. And Limbaughs fan-boys aren't going to get you re-elected in 2010 (if that's when your seat is up) and if Obama does a half-decent job, the Hannity Haw Haws aren't gonna do it for you in 2012 either.

That means "playing ball" with Obama. Except that in doing so, you now have the difficulty of how to differentiate yourself.

Nah, this wasn't a a "rookie mistake" - this was the equivilent of trash talking the defensive line into jumping early.