The last four months was a welcome back to “fifteen minutes of relevancy” for Rush Limbaugh. The king of the talk radio movement of the 1990’s has had a very tough eight years in the wilderness of relative invisibility. "Operation Chaos" was successful in dragging on the Democrat presidential primary competition for fourteen weeks. This race was over after the Mid-Atlantic primary night of February 12th. If Senator Clinton had any chance of securing the nomination Limbaugh would still be playing spoiler. However, there are several downsides for McCain in the general election, and if he loses in November he can lay the seeds of his defeat on the pedestal of Limbaugh's manipulations.
- There are only two issues in this campaign: the domestic economy and the War in Iraq. Obama has McCain soundly overmatched on both issues. Obama's performance in Industrial, Midwest, and Southern states will force McCain to campaign in states where Republicans usually win effortlessly. This leads to point number two.
- Obama has raised significantly more money than McCain. The fact that Clinton stayed in the race until June means that Obama will constantly be raising money and will not have any significant downtime of his fundraising operation until November. More money raised means more money to spend in the red and purple states
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- The excitement of this nomination race has lead to record new voter registration drives. There are simply going to be more Democrats voting in the general election than Republicans. These voters are going to be highly motivated to change the policy decisions of the last eight years; the war and the economy. McCain faces a fragmented party with moderates interested in ending the war and conservatives who are still not excited about McCain's candidacy.
- Clinton is a much easier target. The RNC would have had a field day in reviving the scandals of the Clinton years and would have made the election about trust, which McCain would have won in a landslide. Instead, Limbaugh has allowed time for Obama to be inoculated against attacks. Compared to Clinton and McCain (Keating 5), Obama has very little ethical or political baggage. Limbaugh has given Obama time to shore up his vulnerabilities and air them in front of the media and the American people for four months.
If McCain is the weaker candidate because of the reasons listed above let's take a look at where Limbaugh could benefit from Operation Chaos in the long term. If Obama is elected Limbaugh has a new target in the White House. Limbaugh will be relevant once again as he regains his status as the leader of the "vast right-wing conspiracy." On a side note, maybe he will even resurrect his failed TV career; probably not.
The bottom line is that Limbaugh does not care if McCain wins in November, in fact, it would be counter-productive to the possibility of revitalizing his career. If Obama wins Limbaugh will have better ratings and earn more money. So, congratulations "ditto heads", you have achieved Rush's goal…the only cost to you is victory in November
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