“Big mistake. Big. Huge.”

—Vivian (Julia Roberts)

RNC chairman Michael Steele is exactly wrong. He may be the de jure leader of the Republican Party, but conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is the “de facto” leader.

Just as Limbaugh owns congressional Republicans like Rep. Phil Gingrey who are scared to differ with him lest their constituents hear them getting called out on the air, Limbaugh now owns Steele—like Master Reynolds owned Toby.

It’s all because Steele apologetically passed on a golden opportunity to spin his relatively innocuous remarks about Limbaugh on D.L. Hughley Breaks The News. He called him an “entertainer” and “incendiary” and had a chance to spark a war of words that would have made Steele at least the “de facto” leader of the forward-looking, grown-up wing of the Republican Party, at least the master of his fate and the captain of his black Republican soul.

It’s like that scene in Pretty Woman (you’ve seen it; stop frontin’...) where the Rodeo Drive saleswoman refuses to help Julia Roberts, only to find out the next day that she cost herself a sales commission bonanza. By critiquing, then apologizing to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele finds himself having made a big mistake. Huge.

Which is why President Barack Obama should take Limbaugh up on his challenge (pronounced with a faux French, “chal-lenge!”) to “debate” Limbaugh on his radio show. All Obama has to do is show up and be himself. By the time it’s all over, Obama will own Limbaugh, Steele and the rest of the GOP that has kowtowed to Limbaugh over the last several weeks.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a “debate” with starched white shirts, lecterns and Jim Lehrer. After all, Limbaugh isn’t running for anything—and at the moment, neither is Obama.

Here’s a preview of how it might go.

RUSH: Greetings, Dittoheads. Today, the president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, joins us in the studio. Mr. President, thanks for joining me on the E.I.B. network

POTUS: Thanks for having me, Rush. Your set-up here is much comfier than 60 Minutes or Meet The Press. I’ve got about 30 minutes before I have to get back to being in charge and whatnot, so what have you got for me?

RUSH: Well, for starters, do you have a problem with me saying, “I hope he fails” in regard to your domestic agenda?