Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh warned in a TV interview of unprecedented "radical leadership" in the White House and called President Barack Obama a narcissist who is "immature, inexperienced, in over his head."
Limbaugh, who regularly rails against the administration in his weekday radio program, said the health care overhaul working through Congress would become "the biggest snatch of freedom and liberty" ever seen in the United States.
In an interview taped for "Fox News Sunday" nearly a year after the presidential election, Limbaugh derided Obama's recent visit to Dover Air Force Base to observe the return of 18 service members' remains from Afghanistan. He called it a "photo op" designed to "create the impression that he has all of this great concern" while he dithers over a new strategy for the 8-year-old war.
"He really has no experience running anything. He's very young. I think he's got an out-of-this-world ego. He's very narcissistic. And he's able to focus all attention on him all the time," Limbaugh said.
‘Man-child president’
Limbaugh often calls Obama a "man-child president" on his syndicated radio show. "That description is simply a way to cut through the noise and say he's immature, inexperienced, in over his head," he said in the TV interview.
In response, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said, "It's a surreal day when you're getting lectures on humility from Rush Limbaugh," and he dismissed Limbaugh as "an entertainer."
Axelrod said he believes most Americans appreciate Obama's visit to Dover Air Force Base and called it appropriate.
"The president of the United States went to Dover to represent the American people and pay his respects to the families who had made so much of a sacrifice, to those brave service people who made the ultimate sacrifice," Axelrod said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
The White House has suggested that Limbaugh and some other far-right political personalities have grabbed control of the Republican Party. Limbaugh has openly vowed to do what he can to ensure that Obama's presidency is a failure.
His remarks on "Fox News Sunday" follow administration criticism that Fox News is the voice of the far-right wing of the Republican Party. Obama recently excluded the news network in a weekend blitz of television interviews.
Limbaugh said he is deeply worried about the administration's initiatives.
"We've never seen this kind of radical leadership at such a high level of power in the country," he said. "I believe that the economy is under siege, is being destroyed. Anybody with any economic literacy would not do one thing this administration's done to try to revitalize the private sector. They're destroying it."
Predicts a revolt
Looking to the future, the radio host predicted a revolt against the Democratic Party and Obama in the 2010 midterm elections. He also said former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008, was prepared to be president, but he stopped short of endorsing her as a candidate.
Limbaugh criticized Vice President Joe Biden as "pompous, a bit of a wind bag and wrong," and said a second Obama term would be painful for the nation.
"Every day you get up and there's a new potential threat to liberty and freedom being launched by this man and his administration," he said.
Axelrod said Limbaugh's remarks are hardly surprising.
"He does it every day on radio. He's marketing the outrageous. And he does very well with it," Axelrod said. "But, as I said, he's an entertainer. We've got bigger responsibilities."