The award isn't for heroism. Past recipients have included five architects, several artists, dancers, musicians, about twenty-five actors and actresses, as many authors and a few dozen musicians, a few photographers, a few dozen businessmen, teachers, historians, lawyers, journalists, philosophers, and a whole lot of politicians. Besides Rush Limbaugh, two other radio personalities were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Lowell Thomas and Paul Harvey.
I suppose "hero" was not the best choice of words, but I didn't mean it in the sense of heroism such as a soldier or fire fighter might be a hero. I meant a person who has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal. Limbaugh is sadly lacking in my opinion. But since Bruce Jenner was "Woman of the Year," I suppose the bar has been forever lowered.
Doesn't matter. The prestige went out the window a long time ago after checking the list of past recipients. More of the "President's Friends ' Medal," since Obama doled them out with wild abandon. It's a joke some of the people that have received it the past 50 years, so I suppose I'll grudgingly admit that Rush is as deserving as many of them.
The bar has become like a Limbo Stick laying on the dancefloor. Of course, you can't really say anything because then it is a hate crime. I'm waiting to see if his new face will end up on a box of Wheaties as in his Olympic years....so they can prove they are politically correct.
I remember that the widower of a 9/11 police officer (who was posthumously Woman of the Year 2001) returned the award when Jenner won in 2015. His wife was the only female NYPD officer to die during the attacks on the World Trade Center while evacuating people from Tower Two. He felt Jenner's award was a slap in the face to his wife's memory, and I admire him for that action.