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.
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.