One of the greatest rivalries in today’s society is not in sports or between two world superpowers. The battle is between liberals and conservatives.

Both right and left wingers are guilty of tearing their extreme political opposites apart like ravenous dogs while ignoring their opponent’s arguments.

The most recent event involves conservative-talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and his “outrageous” statement that he hopes President Barack Obama “fails.”

This one quote has both sides of the political spectrum pointing fingers, but very few people are asking why Limbaugh would make such an extreme declaration, and why it even matters so much.

The whole fiasco began when President Obama flat out told Republicans in Washington not to listen to Limbaugh’s radio show.

“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” said the President.

Limbaugh’s statement was made shortly after this statement by the President. However, contrary to popular belief, he did not speak out in response to President Obama’s attack. Limbaugh was frustrated with the already liberal policies of the new administration, and was asked by a major American publication to write 400 words in hope for the Obama presidency.

Limbaugh expressed his “hope” for Mr.Obama’s liberal plans in four short words: “I hope he fails.”

What aggravates conservatives like Limbaugh the most about liberals is their bad habit of making up rules that affect everyone but them.

 “Liberalism is our problem,” he said on his radio-show on January 16. “Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here.”

To be fair, Limbaugh did say “I hope Obama fails.” According to the transcript from the show the staff of the Rush Limbaugh Show were shocked by the announcement. But Limbaugh’s next point makes sense also, what is there to be upset about? How many people said they wanted Bush to fail, and yet there were no wide eyes and open mouths for that?

 Limbaugh meant what he said, but what many don’t know is what he meant by it. The conservative host of America’s number one most listened to talk-radio-show does not support Obama’s liberal policies, because Limbaugh believes they will destroy the country.

 “What he’s talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the US government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care,” said Limbaugh.  “I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don’t want this to work.”

The actual one line quote can easily be seen as an attack on the new President of the United States. Anything can be taken out of context and twisted to sound one way or another if it is vague enough, which is exactly what happened here.

The same thing happened while the President was still on the campaign trail. When he said he planned to “spread the wealth around,” to Joe the Plummer last year it was all any conservative could talk about for days. Only four little words were said by Limbaugh but what Obama said was strongly defended by the media, while Limbaugh was practically left fending for himself. It was only four words; it is impossible to get the whole story from so little, and yet there are countless articles all over the internet calling Limbaugh unpatriotic.

So far Obama has shown little support for Conservative or even Republican ideas. The closing of Guantanamo Bay, and the passing of an ever-growing stimulus bill that won no Republican votes are all examples of his liberal leaning. To outspoken conservatives like Limbaugh, the President’s policies are only causing more problems.

Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is listen to the other side of the story, but how else can the whole truth be found? If anything is to be learned from all this, it’s that a four word quote is not evidence for a severe accusation, even against a political enemy.