A Message Problem?

I'm constantly hearing the talking heads on the cable shows (except Fox News, my cable box is allergic to that channel) repeating the meme that there's White House messaging problem. "Why do a significant portion of the population think President Obama raised taxes instead of the fact that he gave 95% of Americans a tax cut?" they ask. "What is the messaging problem with the White House?"

Well, when you are on the fence or don't really pay attention until a month before elections, you're going to get a thirty second blurb on your local news and now know the details on the issues. And the loudest noise makers get the coverage. Even if there are 3 million self-described Tea Partiers out there, that's one percent of the population. One percent.

But ultimately, when you are just flat out anti-Obama and decide to listen only to those who you agree with instead of looking for objective sources of information, why would you think any differently? When all you watch is Fox News Channel, when all you listen to is Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, when all you read is William Kristol and David Brooks and Jonah Goldberg, why would you assume they were lying to you, especially when they're saying what you subconsciously want to hear?

The problem isn't with the message, it's with the messengers.

UPDATE (12:10pm): See what I mean?

Rush Limbaugh said Monday that President Obama has "switched from Messiah to demon."

The radio host said the president looked "demonic" in photos that were taken over the weekend and that appeared on the Drudge Report Monday.

"These pictures, they look demonic," Limbaugh said of the Obama photos. "And I don't say this lightly. There are a couple pictures, and the eyes, I'm not saying anything here, but just look. It is strange that these pictures would be released....It's very, very, very strange. An American president has never had facial expressions like this. At least we've never seen photos of an American president with facial expressions like this."

"I mean, I feel like I'm watching The Omen: 666 and all that," he would say later. "This is weird, weird, weird stuff."

Is it any wonder that polls show some people think Obama is the Antichrist? But it's a White House message problem, right? I'll be looking for Robert Gibbs to release a statement claiming President Obama is not Beelzebub, the Antichrist or Satan, you know, just to clear up the White House messaging.