The Obama White House has targeted Rush Limbaugh for political destruction. They tried to throw the harmless entertainer under the bus, but there he is now smack dab in the middle of the briar patch.

Thus singled out, thus targeted, thus the object of hope and change, Rush has now invited Obama onto the radio show to "debate me" on the issues.

Will Obama accept -- man-to-man, leader-to-leader -- so that a singled-out individual might face the leader of his accusers, who happens to inhabit what for the time being is the most powerful office in the world? 

Surely the man from the hardscrabble of Hawaii, committed to hunting down the fearsome Osama bin Laden, harbors no fear of a mere radio talk show host. Surely this Lincolnesque, JFKesque, FDResque figure, his glinty far-seeing gaze fixed on the horizon of the future, knows full well what rich opportunity awaits him once bravely ensconced behind the golden microphone of EIB.

On the other hand, high and lofty matters of state may interfere. Jeffrey Lord at American Spectator captures the Obama dilemma: 

With an ineptness that leaves one breathless, the Obama team has now effectively labeled Obama himself as "paralyzed with fear" if in fact the President doesn't have the guts to accept Limbaugh's challenge. After all, if they claim that GOP chair Michael Steele and "Republicans" are cowards for not taking on Rush, Obama himself will surely have the guts to do what they claim Steele and Republicans do not: take on Rush Limbaugh one-on-one.

"Paralyzed with fear"? A gut-challenged president of the United States? Let us be clear: There's no way that Obama has that deer-in-the-headlights look. No way. No. Impossible.

Related:
Breitbart, Rush, and the Cult of Secular Politics
Limbaugh vs. Obama