Countdown (to oblivion) with Keith Olbermann

On Twitter and in blogs, the left’s fawning over Keith Olbermann's debut on Current TV yesterday was eerily slavish. Netrooters are his number one fans (think Kathy Bates in Misery, only more desperate). They are the amen-choir and they want to be preached to. But this outpouring of progressive love is probably all for naught. The problem is Current TV. Never heard of it? “You’re not alone,” notes Media Bristo. “You can usually find it somewhere near the channels that carry local Parks Commission meetings and the unidentifiable language network.” Per the NY Daily News, Current TV is available in about 60 million homes nationwide. Only a fraction of that total actually watches it. Translation: Olbermann will be largely talking to himself. He told the Daily News, "The rating we're interested in is more for 2013, after the next election settles. We're in this for the long haul, to eventually build a 24-hour news network." Brave talk. Predictable spin. Current's founder Al Gore (yes, that Al Gore) hopes Olbermann's star power will catapult the network into a sort of radicalized MSNBC Lite, an über liberal antidote to the Fox News Death Star ("If you only knew the power of the Dark Side, Luke"). But as Gore should know, here's the inconvenient truth: If Queen Oprah herself is struggling to establish the OWN channel on cable (available in 80 million homes), what chance does Current TV have? I’d say slim to none. I give Olbermann maybe six to eight months. Then it's "Good Night and Good Luck."