Obama takes on immigration—and Rush Limbaugh.

At least Obama’s focus is on an actual issue like immigration reform. Not sure though if mentioning Limbaugh in the latest spot is a bad move or a clever one. (It’s in Spanish with loose translation here.)

Seems clever in that he’s clearly going after someone with a very large audience. Is it an attempt to discredit Rush in the court of public opinion and erode some of his nearly 20 million weekly listeners? Maybe even sway some of the undecideds who won’t admit to listening to him?

Could be a worse move because it now gives credibility to all the talkshow hosts from both sides hiding behind the veil of “commentary and opinion.” What, us? We’re not the media. We’re just offering up our opinions. What effect could we possibly have? (THIS JUST IN: Drive-by media? Hannity and Colmes? MSNBC? Drudge? Blogs? NY Times? It’s all media.)

That’s fine if that’s all it was, but the guilty by association logic of Fox News does have an effect, at the very least, on their base. Say it loud enough, long enough and people believe it—and share it. Offering opinion or swaying public policy unfairly? You decide!

Something’s wrong though when you toss softballs to your candidates in interviews, then throw fastballs at the heads of opponents. Talkshow hosts should be nothing more than fans in the stands watching the game. If they occasionally run around drunk on the field, okay.

Problem is, somewhere along the line they started to believe they were actually part of the team and belonged on the field.