Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:12 pm
On his radio show today Rush Limbaugh compared President Obama to The Joker in The Dark Knight. Limbaugh said, “The Joker in that movie took every opportunity to remake Gotham City…His goal was to undermine the whole current system and to effect the change that the people Gotham City didn’t want.” Did Rush see The Dark Knight?
Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:
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Limbaugh said, “If you’ve seen The Dark Knight, you know the character of The Joker in that movie took every opportunity to remake Gotham City, didn’t he? He had a big damn chip on his shoulder about his childhood and about a bunch of other things. His goal was to undermine the whole system, the whole current system…and to effect the change that the people of Gotham City didn’t want The Joker created chaos upon chaos, the whole city was focused on him and what he was going to do next. He viewed crisis as an opportunity, so The Joker orchestrated crisis after crisis after crisis, and The Joker wore a mask. Whoever put this poster together is pretty smart because there are some similarities here between what The Joker did in that movie and what Obama is doing to this country.”
I don’t think Limbaugh watched the same movie as the rest of us, or 1,500 calorie a day crash diet is taking its toll. I must confess that I am a huge Batman fan, and I could probably write pages about how wrong Rush’s interpretation is, but I’ll stick to the basics. The Joker has at various times been referred to as a psychopath and a sociopath. There is no philosophical reasoning beneath The Joker’s actions. He causes chaos for the sake of chaos.
The Joker doesn’t wear a mask. It is makeup. The Joker also isn’t the character with a chip on his shoulder about his childhood that would be Batman. The Joker did not see crisis as an opportunity. If he did, he would be a Republican, maybe even a Republican president, and he would likely have invaded Iraq after 9/11.
Limbaugh actually managed to reverse the motives of Batman and The Joker to make his political point that Barack Obama is the villain. In reality, Obama has more similarities to Batman than The Joker. Obama is logical and practical. He is known to be a bit detached, and more of a loner. The biggest problem with Limbaugh’s comparison is that he assumes that the people don’t want change.
Rush, America voted for change. I know that you are trying to deny this fact, but it is true. Americans want the change whether it is in the economy or healthcare. Only in Limbaugh’s fantasy land is the nation rejecting Obama. How can a man who is trying to fix the damage done by the Bush administration be a villain? Obama is no more The Joker than Limbaugh is Batman. Come to think of it Rush would make fine Penguin. Somebody get Christopher Nolan on the phone.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
