In the midst of the Capitol Hill battle over President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package, a much higher profile has been given to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh lately. Naturally, a lot of the problem stems from the fact that Rush Limbaugh, in a comment two weeks ago while speaking with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, implied that he hopes Barack Obama fails in his time as President.

Certainly this doesn’t seem like the time or the place for such a comment, being in the midst of a huge economic crisis and all. Nonetheless, there was a specific reason that the comment was made in the first place. Limbaugh is looking for attention, and there is no better way to get it than to excoriate the new President’s views on domestic policy.

Furthermore, what hasn’t been reported by most outlets is that while Limbaugh certainly implied that he’d like to see Obama fail, it was more in reference to Obama’s policies due to the fact that Limbaugh sees an implementation of more liberal domestic policy as something that will ultimately hurt America. Some will see this as the same thing as hoping for failure, but at least on some level there is a distinction between the two.

What’s more worrisome to me is the fact that the Obama Administration is actually engaging this argument in the public. While speaking to Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week, he addressed the situation directly.

“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” said Obama to House Republicans while discussing ideas for the economic stimulus package.

It’s really not a good thing for Obama to be addressing Rush Limbaugh through the media. Historically speaking, the last Democratic Administration (the Clinton Administration) did this and eventually lost political capital in the process, culminating in the 1994 takeover of the House of Representatives by the Republican Party.

You may be wondering, why is it that addressing a media figure such as Rush Limbaugh directly is so bad for this Administration? The problem with doing this stems more from the fact of what Rush Limbaugh really is. He’s an entertainer. He’s really not a source of news; rather, a commentator who entertains people on both sides of the political spectrum. The ratings of his nationally syndicated radio show “The Rush Limbaugh Show” reflect this fact. He’s been the first among all AM radio talk shows since being since 1988.

All that any observer has to do to realize that Rush Limbaugh isn’t a credible news source or commentator is merely listen to his radio show. He has made up characters on his show (such as Mr. Sneardly, which is a pseudonym for call-screener James Golden), gives himself outrageous nicknames and features song parodies done by Paul Shanklin.

When considering all of this, it’s easy to see why engaging Limbaugh in a media war is such a dumb idea. It merely grants him legitimacy as a political commentator. Of course, it’s hard to say that Limbaugh has absolutely no pull politically in this country. He has a lot of pull. But most people understand that Limbaugh is more about being an entertainer and maintaining good ratings.

For their sake, one hopes that the Obama Administration realizes that engaging a political talk show host in a media war is not a good PR move. Historically speaking, it’s not a very smart political move. If he continues to do this, it will become increasingly hard for him to get anything he wants. Furthermore, he risks alienating certain voters who believe that he doesn’t care about bipartisanship in Washington.