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Rush isn't really the GOP leader. Too bad.

We should start out with several facts on which all can agree. Rush Limbaugh is popular and the very epitome of what a successful talk show host should be. He is thoroughly entertaining, speaks exclusively in hyperbole and, may, for all I know, truly consider himself as “talent on loan from God”. His radio program, on his modestly self-named, Excellence in Broadcasting network, brought him a multi-year contract that will earn him $400 Million through 2016. He has an extremely loyal coterie of listeners who describe themselves as “ditto-heads”, many of whom believe that Mr. Limbaugh is a reputable purveyor of news rather than an extremely gifted entertainer.

In recent months, the Obama administration has gone out of its way to describe Rush Limbaugh as the “voice” or “leader” of the Republican Party. In response, Mr. Limbaugh has “invited” the President of the United States to appear on his radio program and, presumably, debate the issues of the day on a one-to-one basis with total parity between them. This bit of chutzpah was accompanied by the offer to have Rush’s airplane ferry the President in a manner more opulent that Air Force One.

Mr. Limbaugh is an entertainer, a spokesman for his, by his own acknowledgement, personal extreme views. He is not a spokesman or “voice” of a major political party – even if some wish it were so. The respective roles of talk show performer and effective politician are not at all the same. The latter must, to be effective, be able to reach of his or her own party to find common cause and, equally important, across party lines in reaching compromise. Rush, on the other hand, need not compromise, has no need to actually enact anything and may, after all, continue to feed red meat to his faithful, the rabid right-wing core of the Republican Party, who will continue to be secure in their beliefs, isolated – but won’t win an election.

A modern Republican Party, accepting social moderates but maintaining fiscal integrity, would provide a meaningful counter to the newly elected Democratic administration. From the Obama administration’s viewpoint, a Limbaugh-led Republican opposition would be a blessing. Notwithstanding some commentators’ position that the White House has created “Rush as GOP leader”, the truth is that the Republicans have embraced Mr. Limbaugh and his supporters, the Dittoheads.

Who or what are Dittoheads? They are the participants on the Limbaugh radio show who pass the screeners and then thoughtlessly but proudly affirm that they don’t simply "ditto" but, in fact, "mega-ditto" everything spoken by Rush Limbaugh. Over the last several decades, the Republican Party has been careening  towards this destiny. Year after year, the Republicans have been magnetically drawn ever closer to the simplistic worldview espoused by far-right talk radio.