House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) became the latest Democrat to push back against talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who recently said of President Obama, "I hope he fails."
Clyburn explained Limbaugh's comment by theorizing that he doesn't care whether the country succeeds, only his own radio program. "I think that Rush Limbaugh is selling his program and has a very, very low, if any, regard for the real success of this country," Clyburn said on the Bill Press Show Friday morning.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, an adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also lambasted at Limbaugh for his hope. "Rush Limbaugh's reprehensible remark that he 'hopes' President Obama fails to meet the extraordinary economic challenges Americans face has no place in the public discourse," he said.
Limbaugh was asked by a major newspaper to write a 400-word statement on his "hope for the Obama presidency."
Limbaugh, on his program, offered a response. "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,'" he said, before being interrupted by laughter in the studio. He continued: "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."
Limbaugh also recently complained, "We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black, because this is the first black president."