On Barack Obama's Big Day, Voices Raised in Opposition

As President-elect Barack Obama stands to take the oath of office today, some conservative commentators and pundits are lending their voices to a chorus of opposition against his policies. While the nation has been mostly caught up in a paroxysm of elation at the coming of a new administration, these opinionators are not reveling. Rather, they are exercising their time-honored and sacred right to dissent.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh says that the new president is entitlted to exactly the same reception from conservatives that liberals greeted President George W. Bush with in 2001.

"They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year and a half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he's stated them. I don't want them to succeed."

Another conservative luminary, Michelle Malkin, took after Republicans in Washington whom she says have gotten out of the way of the Obama freight train. Malkin wants elected Republicans to show more backbone in opposing Obama and his policies. "My criticism of the GOP establishment is they are completely out of touch with how fly-over America feels about this [inaugural] spectacle."

RedState.com's Erick Erickson, a rising star in the world of conservative activism and punditry, focused his ire at the media, whose over-the-top coverage has turned the inauguration preparations into a canival-like side show. Erickson says the media is not covering Obama, but engaging in idolatry.

"I think we are going to be treated to hagiography for weeks if not months. The first time Obama uses the bathroom, Newsweek will do a five page spread."

The national good mood over Obama's inauguration is likely to last for at least his first 100 days in office. But as President Obama's and the Democratic Congress' plans and policies begin to take hold, he will begin to be judged more and more on results. Obama no doubt knows this, and is trying in vain to dampen expectations and to insulate his administration against the backlash that will come with anything less than resounding success. But these conservative commentators would not mind seeing President Obama have a little more difficult time establishing himself. Their opposition should be a signal to Obama that soon the basking in the public's adulation and the media spotlight will end, and he will have to deal with a loyal, and vocal, opposition.
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