Bloggers on Rush Limbaugh, Obama's Letter to Russia, and the Day in Healthcare

Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:

The Tasmanian Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is caught in the news cycle again, enflaming old partisan grudges like ... well ... like it was any other day. But that's not the point. The point is that bloggers could write angry letters to Limbaugh like this one and stay relevant: "Whenever anyone thinks about the GOP I hope they can't help but see your round puss with a long Montecristo Cuban sticking out of it as you stand at the tee box on your private golf course or board your private jet or waltz around the grounds of your mansion in West Palm and they realize you are the ideologue that guides conservative thinking." Conservative Brian Doherty can't help but see hypocrisy in Limbaugh, summing up Rush's current political views with this one-liner: "Let's let Republicans be in charge of wasteful deficit spending and managing everyone's life again!" Marc Ambinder thinks the back-and-forth between RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Limbaugh is being used by Democrats to marginalize moderate Republicans. Other conservatives see the fight between Steele and Limbaugh as a symbol of the problems with the Republican Party: "It vacillates between a mushy moderation that deflates its base and a tin-eared Bushian bellicosity that doesn't mean anything to swing voters." And Kathryn Jean Lopez is amazed by "the juvenile, nasty criticism" the Limbaugh controversy has unleashed.

Wooing the Kremlin

News broke today that President Obama sent a secret letter to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev last month. In the letter, Obama offers to hold off on a new Eastern European missile defense system in exchange for Russian help dissuading Iran from building long-range weapons. Joshua Keating gives a brief summary of the diplomatic exchange, referring to Obama's outreach as an olive branch to Russia. "You know what feels totally eighties when you hear about it nowadays?" asks Chris Rovzar. "Note-passing. Also, secret deal-making with Russia." Markus Ziener thinks it's unrealistic to expect Russia to cooperate on the Iran issue. "Since the fall of the Shah in 1979 almost every U.S. government overestimated the influence Moscow can exert over Tehran," he writes. "Before the NATO summit is due in April Obama will have to come up with a couple of more ideas." The Obama administration is anything but naive or unrealistic, writes Jacob Heilbrunn: "A Russia allied with Europe and the U.S. could help exert real pressure on Tehran to reconsider its plans. Moreover, Obama clearly wants to draw Russia back into the western camp." Whether or not you like Obama's tactics, don't think the idea was his own. Turns out New York Sen. Chuck Schumer came up with something strikingly similar months ago. Meanwhile, Stephen Walt sees a downside to a potential Obama-Medvedev deal: "It means that the fate of the missile defense program is actually in Iran's hands, not Moscow's."

Scrutinizing the Budget

Healthcare. Healthcare. Healthcare. This, at least, was the topic that most bloggers turned to when discussing Obama's 2010 budget unveiled last week. Take this post by our very own Mary Kate Cary for example, where she objects to Obama's plan to fund healthcare by "reducing the itemized deductions that taxpayers in higher brackets can take for things like donations to charity." Here's a roundup on the day in healthcare. Conservative Francis Cianfrocca thinks there's a change that the Obama administration has "intentionally chosen the path of weakening the private economy." He explains: "That could make sense if their goal is to make fully-socialized healthcare politically easier to achieve by discrediting free enterprise." Turning to Obama's defense spending, Dov Zakheim believes the administration is sacrificing U.S. military primacy. Others spent their time analyzing Obama's newly announced health team.

... Meanwhile ...

Rod Blagojevich lands a six-figure book deal (tentative title: The Governor)... A university in Liverpool creates a master's degree in Beatles-ology... The periodic table of awesomeness available here... And a New Zealand mall uses the antiquated (but oh so soothing!) tunes of Barry Manilow to drive away loitering teens.