What the hell?

    I get most of my news from short soundbites on the morning news (when I'm still half asleep) or from letters to the editor in the Salt Lake Tribune.  So, this morning when I read that Rush Limbaugh said he hoped President Obama fails, I was surprised.  Enough that I had to check out it's authenticity.  Well most of the sites I got when I Googled "Want Obama to fail" were admittedly liberal sites, and I couldn't find the original quote on YouTube, but there I did find video of Rush himself discussing (and defending) the fact that he said that.  So, it's not just liberal media propaganda and now I can post this quote from thinkprogress.org:

So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.

   How many people out there wanted George Bush to fail?  No, not knew he would fail, but wanted?  Well, I wanted him to fail in both his bids for election, but as president I was hoping he would succeed.  I supported the responses immediately after 9-11, I wanted to see BinLaden caught and to feel the country was safe again.  I even, at that point, was glad that Gore was not president, because I honestly felt that the swift and strong response to 9-11 would not have happened under his presidency.  Even as I saw Bush's policies going awry, I wasn't hoping he would fail, because for a president to fail, as we can see now, is for our country to fail.

   To want Obama to fail, whether you agree with his policies or not, is to want this economic mess to continue, to want the unemployment rate to go higher than the 8.5% it's at now, to see more companies fail and the country fall further into the abyss.  Obama's goal is to get this country out of this recession or depression, and even if you disagree with his methods, you should be hoping that he gets us out of it.