Medved Actually Understands That People Are Tired Of Lies, But He Won't Come Out And Say So
Will talk radio get wake-up call?
Appealing to the right-wing fringe is no way to build a political movement.
By Michael Medved
from USA Today
The multibillion-dollar talk radio industry faces existential challenges and dramatic opportunities in the upcoming Age of Obama. Depending on responses from leading conservative talkers, this rude, raucous indispensable medium will either rise to new heights of mainstream influence, profit and credibility, or else collapse as a declining vehicle for an increasingly angry and alienated fringe.
(Web Bryant, USA TODAY)
For more than a decade, I've hosted a nationally syndicated political talk show. Like all radio veterans, I cherish the notion that the last time a young Democrat took over the White House with gauzy visions of change, it produced a "Golden Age" for right-wing talk.
Bill Clinton arrived in 1993 with some of the same messianic gifts as Barack Obama's — and similarly solid Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. The aging, cautious GOP congressional leaders of that earlier epoch offered no dynamic counterweight to the sweeping ambitions of the new administration. When the influential conservative journal National Review anointed "The Leader of the Opposition," it featured a cover caricature of a popular hero who had never run for office: Rush Limbaugh.
Government in exile
In fact, the dawn of Clintonism brought spectacular growth to conservative talkers on national and local radio. With no Republican power base in the federal bureaucracy, dispirited conservatives turned to talk radio as a sort of government in exile. Deploying wit, passion and ferocious focus, Rush (and his many followers and imitators) rallied GOP loyalists to fight back against the Clinton agenda, from gays in the military to Hillary's health care scheme. Within two years, Republicans came roaring back to capture GOP control of both houses of Congress and pointedly acknowledged the role of radio — naming Rush the "Majority Maker" and making him an honorary member of their caucus.
Today's titans of talk naturally dream of repeating this revival, but even if Obamatrons offer targets for ridicule every bit as juicy as Clintonistas, it won't be easy to recapture the potent magic of the 1990s. Most obviously, the rapid development of cable TV and the Internet has given the public innumerable new options for debate and information. During Clinton's era, conservative talk radio offered the inevitable destination for political junkies who cared deeply about the fate of the new administration. Today, many leading TV comics and commentators lean unabashedly to the left, while progressive websites rival popular right-wing sources online.
This fragmentation of the mass audience has led many talk shows to cultivate a niche audience rather than the Republican mainstream. In the aftermath of stinging GOP defeat in November, radio crackles with blame-game arguments intended to divide "real conservatives" from unworthy moderate imposters — as if the GOP could become the first party in history to expand an already shrunken base by purging its membership.
During the Clinton years, Rush seldom concentrated fire on fellow Republicans, understanding that even imperfect GOPers in Congress contributed precious votes to historic majorities. In the general election battle of '92, Limbaugh backed President George H.W. Bush, despite charges the GOP incumbent was a weak-kneed "country club Republican."
Increasingly, interests of commercial talk radio in a fractured market diverge from the needs of a viable national movement. A radio show (locally or nationally) that draws just 5% of the available audience can achieve notable success in ratings and revenue, but a conservatism that connects with only a disgruntled, paranoid 5% of the public will wither and die.
Yes, the nation expects (and deserves) tough partisan battles in the years ahead, but it matters greatly who's viewed as initiator of the conflict. George W. Bush suffered throughout his presidency from perceptions that he never delivered on his "uniter not divider"rhetoric and that he and Karl Rove, not the Democrats, introduced the toxic atmosphere into Washington.
In the long run
If Obama repeats some of Clinton's mistakes and launches his administration with polarizing initiatives, then talk radio will fight back with appropriately fierce determination. That's particularly true if he tries to impose the "Fairness Doctrine" — empowering government bureaucrats to clamp down on controversial opinions by requiring federally defined "balance," thereby threatening the very existence of talk radio and politically engaged broadcast TV.
But if the new president makes credible efforts to govern from the center, then talk radio can't afford long-term marginalization as a sulking, sniping, angry irrelevancy. It makes no sense to react with pre-emptive rage (and an odd obsession over Obama's birth certificate) to a president-elect who has remained pointedly vague on policy.
During the recent campaign, talk radio looked far less formidable than it did during its glory years. The GOP candidates most relentlessly bashed by leading talkers (John McCain and Mike Huckabee) became the two top vote-getters among Republicans, and the McCain-Palin ticket got 90% of GOP votes despite reluctant support from most prominent hosts.
Talk radio led the opposition to the Clinton juggernaut (and flourished mightily in the process) as a mass audience medium that appealed simultaneously to all dissenters from the Democratic drive for domination. The great power of the medium involved its ability to change minds — but that requires drawing significant numbers of listeners who don't already agree with you.
Some radio stars view media debate as a form of warfare, though the ultimate purpose of war involves the total destruction of the enemy. The most effective broadcasters in the Obama Era won't try to destroy anybody. But we should make an impassioned effort to convince everybody.
Michael Medved, a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors, hosts a daily radio show broadcast on more than 200 stations. He is author of the new bestseller The 10 Big Lies About America.
