Why Obama Should Thank Rush Limbaugh and His Friends

How conservatives made the President the nicest guy in the world.

Apparently, President Obama is the most likable Muslim-Kenyan-socialist this country has ever known. In the world of polling, an eight-point advantage is not a small one. And this is exactly what Obama has in the category of likability. According to Gallup, 54 percent feel favorably about Obama, whereas only 46 percent feel the same about Romney.

When asked which candidate is a better leader, though, Obama trails Romney, 44 percent to 48 percent. Forty-seven percent polled think Romney would deal more effectively with the economy; forty-three percent think our economy would be better off in Obama’s hands.

Still, many polls have put Obama and Romney in a dead heat for the White House.

This is curious. We’re still reeling from the most devastating economic meltdown since the Great Depression, yet we’re divided on whether or not we should vote for Mitt Romney, the candidate who we say (at least according to one poll) will be better able to handle the economy.

Now, perhaps you’d rush to question the sanity of your voting compatriots. We just welcomed candidate Romney home from a trip to Europe, during which he managed to leave no stone left un-insulted. (No Apologies!) But yes, of course, a wonderful leader he’d be. And, the centrist Tax Policy Center has reported that Romney’s tax plan would further spoil the Penthouse sector: Millionaires would see a 4.1 percent boost in after-tax income, while those earning less than $200,000 would see a reduction of 1.2 percent in after-tax income. With those kinds of prospects, Romney’s Swiss accountant might be wise to find another gig. But yes, indeed, Romney would get the middle-class back to work in no time.

Nonetheless, let’s take our voting friends at their word. Romney’s the better leader, and he’d get the economy off its ass. Why on Gingrich’s Mars won’t we vote for the guy?

I’ve got a theory: Republicans have made President Obama into the nicest man on Earth, and we’re finding it hard to throw him out.

That’s right. It seems the President has some thank-you notes to write with his red-inked, Communist pens.

Donald Trump, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and all the other bigots disguised as conservative supporters or political commentators have so disgracefully attacked the President’s character that they’ve forced him to endlessly be the champion of maturity and civility. (Michele Bachmann’s still in the high-chair throwing food.)

It all began when conservatives attacked Obama for his affiliation with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (I’m still waiting on Democrats to dig up a Mormon sermon on race relations; the Mormon Church was rather racist for a minute, like until 1978.) Obama became a subversive, anti-American candidate overnight. Then, he went against the advice of his most trusted surrogates and delivered a defining speech on race. He spoke of an “unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people,” all while conservatives touted him as a not-to-be-trusted, enemy of the state.

During his victory speech in Chicago, Obama, once again, would try to be the then soon-to-be unifier-in-chief. He told those who opposed his campaign, “I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.”

When Henry Louis Gates Jr., the renowned African-American Harvard professor, was arrested for disorderly conduct after apparently attempting to break into his own home, Obama called a beer summit in the Rose Garden. He said at the time, “I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.” He didn’t call what happened to Gates for what it was—an egregious breach of trust and dignity against one of our nation’s most respected scholars. If he had done that, he’d be playing the “race card,” which is Republican code for the “we’re-fucked-if-they-talk-about-race card.”

Throughout his term, conservatives have called on the President to prove his place of birth. Step back from your familiarity with this story for a moment—we’re asking our President to show us where he was born. Despite this disgusting attempt to deface Obama, with what has to be one of the most embarrassing and depressing sagas of his first term, the President stepped to the podium at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner and made us all laugh about it—about asking him, the leader of our land, where he was born.

Limbaugh called Obama “President Barack Hussein Kardashian.” Arizona Governor Jan Brewer pointed a nasty finger in the President’s face. And the madness never lets up.

Still, Mitt Romney, the anti-thesis of the Dos Equis guy, finds it difficult to be more favorable than Obama. Trump, Beck, Limbaugh—they’re on Obama’s team. They’ve spewed their hatred so tastelessly that Obama has become the well-mannered, sane candidate in a political cycle that is nothing of the sort. That’s why Romney and Obama are in a dead heat for the White House, even though the majority of Americans (foolish as they may be) think Romney is more likely to be a better leader and fix our economy.

So, on behalf of President Obama: Asante.

Oops, that was Swahili.

Thank you.