The Agenda Item

In January 2009, before Obama had been in office long enough to warm the seat of his chair, Rush Limbaugh, with a degree of candor that his multi-million dollar income allows, made the statement that more cautious Republicans only whispered privately among themselves in closed rooms. He declared that he wanted Obama's presidency to fail.

Anyone who doubts Limbaugh speaks for the Republican Party has missed the stories about elected GOP officials crawling to him in supplication because they've said something that pissed him off. It's a given then -- the GOP wanted Obama to fail before his presidency had even started.

There are signals on the edges that economic recovery is in its nascent stages, and the greatest of many GOP fears is that Obama will be president during a period when the economy begins to grow, people go back to work, and voters decide to chill out for awhile. Among Republicans, fear is the great motivator.

When you understand that failure of the Obama administration is THE agenda item and that economic recovery during his first term is a potential disaster for the GOP, all the other puzzle pieces fall into place.